One More Step Up the Ladder
by Drgonstar
Summary: Follow Jesse, a twelve year old who can talk to Pokemon, on his journey to become a Pokemon Master! If you wish to have a character in the story just send me the info  it will be limited to a one shot and the moment
1. Chapter 1

One More Step Up the Ladder

I woke up and yawned, "Yet another day of my miserable existence" I sighed and got up out of bed. The names Jesse Tanaka, I'm a twelve year old, black-skinned male with green eyes. I have blue dreadlocks, and wear an orange shirt, lime green shorts and black tennis shoes.

I've been a Pokemon trainer for two year, but I've never caught or trained a Pokemon. This is because I've been a miserable wreck ever since I left Trainer's school. Most people didn't see this coming being that I was top in my class at the school. They didn't see what actually went on at recess. Every day, three kids would constantly pick on me. Their words were like sharp knives that cut down my will to train. I soon found myself thinking that I could never become a good Pokemon trainer. What kind of Pokemon would want a horrible trainer like me? So I've been taking walks around Violet city every day since, wondering what my life could had this mental breakdown. I stepped outside my family's house and decided that I was going to visit the Dark Cave today, but not before stopping by the lake.

"I wish my life would get better." I sighed and thought to myself as I walked into the deciduous forest outside Violet city and began to my normal thinking routine. I usually beat myself down in these self-talks, but today was different though, I encouraged myself and felt that today would be the day I would finally get a Pokemon. I smiled a tiny bit and came out by the lake. Sitting beside it, I picked up a stone and chucked it across the lake; it skipped a few times.

Odd, I thought, I've never been able to skip stones that well. Something must be up.

I heard someone walk up behind me and turned around. It was a twelve year old, black skinned, female with long black hair and dark purple eyes. She wore a yellow, strapless shirt, and purple jeans on and sandals on her feet. I recognized her as one of my few friends from the trainer's school, her name was Makoto Nakamura.

"Hey there Jesse," the girl smiled, "I didn't think I'd be seeing you outside Violet City."

I smiled, "There is a first time for everything Makoto."

The girl sat down next to me, "So are you going to try to get a Pokemon today?"

"Why should I?" I sighed. "I'd be a horrible trainer."

"You're still down about that aren't you?" Makoto sighed, "And here I thought you had changed."

"Makoto, why have you stayed in Violet City?" I asked, "I mean, you have nothing stopping you from getting your first Pokemon."

"There is one thing," Makoto smiled, "But I don't want to tell you just yet."

"Why?" I asked, "We've been friends since the first day of Trainer's School, you know you can tell me anything!"

"No,"

"Tell me,"

"No!"

"Please?"

"No! Not now! Ugh, sometimes you push me to my limits Jesse!" Makoto grunted and stood up, "I need to cool off, I'm going back to home!"

Makoto ran off into the forest and I sighed.

"Just my luck to get another one of my friends angry at me," I got up and walked deeper into the forest when I heard something.

"Hey this isn't fair!" a voice said.

"Oh yes it is totally fair, YOU haven't evolved! You know what it means when you don't evolve?" another, deeper voice said.

"What?" the first voice said.

Another deep voice joined in, "You're weak! We don't take kindly to weaklings around here!"

"Give me a chance! I know I'll evolve!" the first voice cried.

"Yeah right, we've given you enough chances!" the first deep voice scoffed.

"Come on, let's leave him be," the other deep voice said.

"Guys! You can't just leave me here! Guys! Guys?"

I heard a whimpering sound coming from some bushes nearby and decided to investigate. There, on a tree stump, a Charmander was cuddled in a ball.

"Why couldn't I have evolved just like the others!" the Charmander cried.

Wait a second, I thought, did that thing just talk?

I walked up to and sat next to it, "You okay there little fella?"

The Charmander looked up at me in shock, "Oh please don't capture me! I've been through enough already! Please don't capture me?"

I laughed, "I can't capture you, I don't have any Pokeballs."

The Charmander looked at me oddly, "You…you…you can understand me?"

I nodded, "You speak plain English to me."

"I thought humans couldn't understand Pokemon?" the Charmander said.

I laughed, "Yeah, I thought that too."

The Charmander sighed, "Well you're still not going to capture me!"

I nodded, "I know what you're going through."

"What do you mean you know what I'm going through?" the Charmander asked, "Aren't you humans supposed to have perfect lives? Seeing as you are the master race in this world."

I smiled, "Far from it. In fact, we believe that you Pokemon have it easy!"

"Yeah right," The Charmander spat.

"Don't believe me? I wish I could have shown you the three bullies who constantly teased me in school."

The Charmander looked up at me, "So you got teased to huh?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I've been trying to get over it for two years."

"I've been trying to get over being teased for a long time," the Chamander sighed, "Name's Trey."

"Jesse," I replied.

Trey thought for a few seconds, "You know, maybe I do need a trainer."

"And maybe I do need a Pokemon," I smiled.

Trey stood up and held out his hand, "Partners?"

I shook it, "Partners."

"Alright then," Trey exclaimed, "What are we waiting for! Let's go out and see the world!"

I nodded, got up and jumped into the air, "Onward to victory!"

I had climbed one more step up the ladder on my way to become a Pokemon master!


	2. Chapter 2

One More Step Up the Ladder

Trey, a Charmander that I had just recently befriended, stood up and held out his hand, "Partners?"

I shook it, "Partners."

"Alright then!" Trey exclaimed, "What are we waiting for! Let's go out and see the world!"

I nodded, got up and jumped into the air, "Onward to victory!"

Both of us paused for a second and looked at each other.

"So what do we do now?" Trey asked.

"We could head to my house,"

"Sounds like a plan! Let's go!"

I nodded and we set off for my house.

"So, what does a house look like?" Trey asked.

"Houses have a variety of appearances. Mine is a two-story with a dark purple roof."

"And what do you do for fun?"

"Normally I just walk around and think,"

"Wow you must be a very boring person!"

"I am,"

"So do you humans fight each other?"

"Not really,"

"Boring!"

We came to my house and Trey eyed it up and down.

"This is so big!"

"Yeah I know," I said and opened the door. Trey and I walked inside and headed up to my room. Trey looked around.

"You have a lot of Pokemon related things,"

"I am a Pokemaniac," I laughed.

Trey rolled his eyes, walked over to a shelf, and took out a book. He flipped through it and saw a picture of a Charizard and tried to read the caption. He tried to read the caption, but gave a heavy sigh after several attempts.

"Jesse, could you help me read this?"

I nodded and sat down next to him and read the words; it was something about the moves a Charizard knows and tips on how to use it in battle.

"I want to be like that one day!" Trey cheered. I smiled and a knock was heard coming from the front door.

"I'll get it!" I yelled, and ran downstairs. I opened the door to find Makoto standing there, holding a Mudkip.

"Hey Jesse," Makoto smiled, shyly.

"Hey Makoto," I smiled.

"Jesse," Makoto said and looked down, "I'm going to start on my Pokemon journey. Before I depart, I want to say that you've been one of the greatest friends a girl could ever have."

"May I join you on your journey?"

Makoto looked at me oddly, "You don't have a Pokemon."

Trey made his way down the stairs, "Jesse! There you are! Man I thought you had abandoned me!"

I turned around and laughed, "Meet Trey, my Charmander."

Makoto gasped as she looked at Trey, "He's so cute!"

Trey grumbled.

"I'm so happy for you!" Makoto exclaimed before kissing me on the cheek, causing me to blush.

"You…you…kissed me," I stuttered.

Makoto nodded and set her Mudkip down; she took out six Pokeballs and gave them to me.

"So you can catch your own Pokemon and an extra one to hold your Charmander in,"

"You want to journey together?"

Makoto shrugged, "If you can beat the Violet City gym leader before me, sure. For now, let's build up our parties"

"Alright Makoto, I'll do my best!"

Makoto nodded and picked up her Mudkip.

"See you soon!"

I nodded and walked outside, Trey followed me.

"Shall we head out?" I asked Trey.

Trey nodded, "Yeah!"

The two of us looked at each other and started off into the forest in order to look for more Pokemon.

"Hey there little Shinxy!" a deep, menacing voice laughed, "Come to Papa!"

"No! I'll never come with you!"

"Aww, this one has a little bit of spunky in it!"

Trey and I ran to the source of the noise. Both of us came upon a white man with a black shirt, black pants, a black cap, and a blonde goatee. The shirt and the cap had a big, red R on it.

"Team Rocket," I snarled, "Man I hate those guys!"

For those of you who don't know, Team Rocket is a group of people who steal Pokemon and cause mayhem. I took a step out of the bushes and yelled.

"Hey you leave that Shinx alone!"

The Team Rocket grunt laughed, "What are you going to do about it?"

I thought for a second before saying, "I'll challenge you to a battle! If I win, you leave that Shinx alone. If you win, you can mess with the Shinx all you want," I paused, "And you'll get my Charmander!"

The Rocket grunt smiled, "That sounds like a good bet!" The Rocket member took out a Pokeball and threw it at the ground, "Go Poocheyena!"

The Pokeball opened and a Poocheyena appeared.

"I'll tear his guts out!" the Poocheyena snarled.

"Alright Trey!" I exclaimed, "Show'em your stuff!"

Trey nodded and jumped in front of me.

"Alright Poocheyena, use tackle!" The Rocket Member exclaimed.

The Poocheyena lunged at Trey, who was knocked down by the attack.

"Alright Trey, use ember!" I ordered.

Trey nodded and sent a small fireball at the Poocheyena, which was dodged.

"Alright Poocheyena!" the grunt yelled, "Use Bite!"

Poocheyena lunged at Trey and bit him on the arm. A yelp escaped from Trey.

"Alright Trey, while the Poocheyena is latched onto your arm, use Flamethrower!"

Trey opened his mouth and a wave of flame engulfed the Poocheyena. The Poocheyena let go and stumbled around for a few seconds.

"Finish it off with Ember!" I exclaimed.

"Can do!" Trey smiled and shot a small fireball at the Poocheyena. The fireball made contact and the Poocheyena fell to the ground, unconscious.

The Rocket grunt sighed and held up his Pokeball. A red beam shot from it and the Poocheyena disappeared into the ball.

"You win this time!" The grunt roared, "If we meet again you will not be so lucky!" we warned and darted off into the bushes.

"We make a great team!" Trey cheered.

I nodded and looked over at the Shinx, who had curled up in fright. I took a few steps toward it.

"Get away from me, human!" the Shinx growled.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I said and crept closer.

The Shinx got up, arched its back, and hissed, "I said stay away from me! You're just another Team Rocket member in disguise!"

"Trust me, I'm not a member of Team Rocket. If I was, I would have tried to catch you by now."

"You can understand me?" the Shinx asked and resumed a more natural pose.

"Funny isn't it?" Trey laughed, "I was skeptical at first, but it turns out he is a really nice guy. Trust me, we're going places!"

The Shinx nodded, "Alright, maybe you might not be so bad. How do I travel with you?"

"Tell us your name first," I said.

"Nelly," The Shinx replied.

"Alright Nelly," I said as I placed a Pokeball down, "I need you to hit the little white button on the front of the Pokeball."

The Shinx nodded and poked the white button. The ball opened and the Shinx was transported it. The ball wiggled three times before a clicking sound was heard.

"Do I have to get in one of those?" Trey whined.

I nodded, "Just so no one else catches you and claims you as being theirs."

"Fine," Trey huffed.

I set another Pokeball down; Trey went over to in and poked it. The ball sucked Trey in and wiggled a few times before another clicking sound was heard. I went over to the two Pokeballs and raised them into the air. I let out a victory cheer because I had climbed one more step up the ladder on my way to becomeing a Pokemon master!


	3. Chapter 3

One More Step Up the Ladder Chapter 3

I picked up the pokeballs containing my Shinx and Charmander.

"Well, this journey is getting off to a good start," I said to myself before releasing the two Pokemon.

"Jesse," Trey, my Charmander, growled, "Don't you ever put me in that thing again!"

"Very well," I said before hearing the sounds of a Pokemon battle echoing nearby.

I figured Trey had heard it too when a smile crept across his face.

"Sweet! A Pokemon battle!" Trey cheered, "Can we please spectate it! Please!"

"If it'll make you shut up, YES!" Nelly, my Shinx, yelled.

Trey ran toward the noise and Nelly and I followed him. When we came to the battle I quickly took note of the trainers.

One was a female, about fourteen or fifteen, with white skin, brown eyes, and long brown hair. She had on a dark purple jacket with fake fur lining along with blue jeans and a Pikachu cap as well as some black lines on her face.

The boy she was fighting was white and look about nine and had on a blue shirt and light blue jeans.

"Alright Surskit!" The boy exclaimed, "Use bubble on that Cyndaquil!"

The Surskit nodded and shot a few bubbles at the Cyndaquil, who was the girl's Pokemon.

"Cynder dodge it!" The girl ordered, but it was too late. The bubble hit the Cyndaquil and knocked it out.

"Good battle Tess," The boy laughed, "But not good enough!"

Trey ran forward and jumped up and down, "Oh! We're next! We're next!"

The boy looked at Trey oddly before trying to throw a pokeball at him. This pokeball bounced off Trey's head.

"Ow!" Trey exclaimed, "Now you're REALLY going to get it!"

I just out of the bushes just in time.

"I'm sorry," I said, "My Charmander can be a little jumpy."

The boy eyed me up and down before sending his Surskit back into its Pokeball, "You must be Jesse."

I nodded, "Yes I am."

"My brother told me that you were the best at trainer's school. Although you didn't go on your Pokemon journey because you were such a crybaby," The boy said, not trying to tease me.

I nodded again.

"Well, do you mind if we have a little battle? To see if you really are good?" The boy asked.

I smiled, "Yes, Shall I ask for the name of my opponent?"

"Roger," The boy replied, "Roger Harrison."

"Alright Roger!" I exclaimed, "Let's battle!"

"Double or single?" The boy asked.

"Single for now," I said, "Do you care if we switch during battle?"

"Let's not," Roger said, "Those kinds of battles take too long."

"Then let's get this show on the road!"

The boy nodded and sent out his first Pokemon, "Alright Bulbsaur! You're up!"

"Trey, you go." I said, "Seeing as Bulbasaur is a grass type."

Trey nodded happily and ran onto the field of battle. Roger gritted his teeth; I figured that he knew a fire Pokemon like Chamander could easily take out that Bulbasaur.

"Bulbasaur use vine whip!" Roger, The boy, exclaimed.

"Trey, use ember!" I commanded.

Trey narrowly dodged the attack and sent a small fireball at the Bulbasaur. The ember hit Bulbasaur on the tip of the green bulb on its back.

"Alright Bulbasaur! Use Bullet seed!" Roger ordered before his Bulbasaur shot several seeds from the bulb Trey had burned.

I wonder how that boy got the TM for bullet seed, I thought, That is extremely hard to come by these days.

"Hey Jesse!" Nelly yelled, "Keep your focus on the battle!"

"Oh, right!" I exclaimed, "Trey use Flamethrower!"

Trey sent out a wave of flame from his mouth, colliding with the seeds Bulbasaur had shot. There quick became a competition to see which attack could over power the other.

"You can do it Trey!" I exclaimed.

"Come on Bulbasaur!" Roger chanted.

The two attacks fought each other for a few more seconds before Trey's Flamethrower broke up, causing him to be pelted by the Bullet seed. Trey fell to the ground.

"You alright Trey?" I asked him.

He nodded and added, "It's just a flesh wound."

"Alright Bulbasaur!" Roger exclaimed, "Now use Tackle while your opponent is down!"

Bulbasaur nodded and lunged at Trey, I waited for a few seconds before ordering Trey to use Flamethrower. The attack hit the Bulbasaur right before he tackled Trey. The Bulbasaur was thrown back.

"Come on Bulbasaur! Get up!" Roger said. Bulbasaur tried to get up collapsed.

"Good Battle," I smiled.

"It's not over yet!" Roger exclaimed, "Go Surskit!"

"Alright Trey, do you still want to fi" I said before Trey quickly interrupted me by yelling yes.

"Alright Surskit!" Roger stated, "Use bubble!"

The Surskit sent a few small bubbles at Trey, who barely dodged and tried to scratch the Surskit but was met with another bubble. Trey flew back and tried to regain his composure.

"Alright Surskit! Quick attack!" Roger exclaimed. The Surskit seemed to come out of nowhere and hit Trey square in the stomach. The blow sent Trey into a tree.

"Trey, you alright?" I asked.

"I'm fine," Trey said, trying to get up, "I've had worse," he groaned before collapsing.

"Trey, it's Nelly's turn now," I said.

"No! I can still fight!" Trey said weakly.

"Nelly, get in there,"

Nelly jumped into the free as electricity began to course through his fur.

"Alright Nelly, Do you know Spark?" I asked him.

Nelly smiled, "Of course I do!"

"Then use it on the Surskit!" I ordered.

Nelly nodded and jumped forward, knocking into the Surskit and sending several volts of electricity into its body.

The Surskit looked like it was on its last leg.

"Remember Roger," I said, "Electric types are super effective on Water types. Seeing as Electric moves have a normal effect on bug type moves, that makes my attack super effective!"

"Yeah I know that!" Roger sighed, "I don't need you to lecture me!"

"I was just saying that because someone could be looking on this battle as a huge wall of text on a computer screen and they may not know why that attack was super effective."

"You're so weird," Roger laughed before going back to his serious tone, "Surskit! Use bubble! Now!"

Surskit sent a few bubbles at Nelly, who effortlessly dodged them.

"Is that all you've got?" Nelly laughed, "My Mom could fight better than you! And she's level five!"

The Surskit sighed, "You guys don't evolve until level fifteen and then again at thirty, so there is no way your mom could be"

Nelly laughed again and used Spark, landing a direct hit. The Surskit tried to stand up but fainted.

"Now that was a good fight," Roger said, "I wonder what your Shinx and my Surskit were saying to each other."

"Something about Nelly's mom being level five," I replied.

"You can understand those guys?" Roger asked.

I nodded, "I don't know how or why, but I can."

Roger looked intrigued, "Interesting, well, let's hope we'll meet again!"

I smiled, "Yep, I hope to see you soon."

"Until we meet again!" Roger said and ran off.

I looked at the girl who was staring at me in awe.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Roger is like, one of the best Trainers at the school! He's beaten me more times than I can count!" The girl exclaimed, "You mind teaching me a few things?"

I shrugged, "All I really knew was type advantages."

The girl looked at me, "Maybe we could travel together for a bit? You know, so you could teach me a few things?"

I laughed, "I guess so! I'm going to try to defeat the Violet City gym leader."

The girl smiled, "So am I!"

"Well, I guess we should get going then," I said and look up at the sky, quickly realizing that we wouldn't make it back to the city in time, "You have a tent?"

"I have two sleeping bags and one tent, so guess who is sleeping outside?"

"You?" I asked.

"No, you are. I'm not going to sleep in the same tent as a boy, let alone give up my tent to him."

I laughed, "Very well, I'll take the other sleeping bag and turn in for the night."

The girl nodded, "So what is your name?" she asked.

"Jesse," I replied, "Yours?"

"Tess," She smiled.

"Alright Tess, hand me the sleeping bag,"

Tess nodded and gave me a sleeping bag, which I quickly got into as night began to fall.

"Wow," I sighed with astonishment, "It hasn't even been a day yet and I've caught two Pokemon and made a friend! This is going to be the best journey ever!"

I closed my eyes knowing that I'd taken one more step up the ladder on my way to becoming a Pokemon Master!


	4. Chapter 4

One More Step Up the Ladder 3

I was rudely awakened from my sleep by Nelly licking my face.

"What is it?" I groaned.

"There seems to be a pink mist coming in around the lake!" Nelly exclaimed, "Come quick!"

I rolled my eyes and got out of bed, "I swear if this is a trick you're going inside your Pokeball!"

Nelly sighed, "Trey is the one who plays tricks!"

"Really now?" I asked, "Are you sure about that?"

"Let's just go! Trey is at the lake and I don't want to keep him waiting!"

I nodded and ran to the lake with Nelly. When both of us got there, we saw that the lake HAD been cover by a pink mist.

"That is justodd," I said, "What could have caused this?"

"No idea," Nelly said and ran over to where Trey was standing.

"So, what do you suppose we do?" I asked my Pokemon.

"I say we investigate this!" Trey stated, "Come on gang!"

Trey began to walk into the mist and Nelly and I followed in pursuit.

"I wish I had a Pokedex," I sighed.

"Doesn't every trainer have one?" Nelly asked.

"Well I would of gotten one on my graduation ceremony but, I skipped it because I was too busy crying."

"Wow, you really are a cry baby!" Nelly laughed but quickly stopped when I held up his Pokeball.

Trey paid no mind to us and kept walking, "Do you think this is some Team Rocket trap?"

"I don't think so," I said, "They're too dumb to come up with a plan like this."

"Never underestimate Team Rocket," Nelly said.

The three of us trudged on for what seemed like hours until Trey bumped into something.

"Hey!" A girly voice said, "Watch where you're going!"

"Sorry ma'am," Trey said, "But may I ask if you know anything about this purple mist."

There was a pause before an embarrassed, girly voice came out, "I'm so sorry, it was just that I had eaten a really pleasant dream! It was so good that now I'm producing too much of this gas!"

"Ah, sorry for asking this ma'am but do you have a trainer?"

"No, although I'm on the fence on whether or not I should have one."

"Well, there is a trainer nearby, if you want to join up with him. He's a really nice guy and can even understand what we're saying!"

"What! There is a trainer nearby! II have to get going!"

And with that the pink mist began to fade.

"After it!" Trey ordered.

Nelly and I sighed and took off with Trey.

"How do you suppose we'll find this Pokemon with all this mist?" Nelly asked.

"I got eyes of a Noctowl," Trey said, "She won't get away that easily!"

After a few minutes, the pink mist disappeared.

"What do you know," Nelly sighed, "We lost her. Eyes of a Noctowl huh?"

"Hey! I didn't say they were always like that!" Trey exclaimed.

"Help!" The girly voice yelled.

"Let's go in the direction of the noise," I said.

"Of course," Nelly and Trey said together.

The three of us darted in the direction of the sound and came to a clearing, where a Haunter and a Shuppet has surrounded what looked like a Munna.

"Now, would you mind producing more of that gas?" The Haunter smiled, "Or else!"

"Yeah!" The Shuppet cackled, "Or else!"

I looked at Trey and then at Nelly, "Okay guys, when I say Leeroy Jenkins we run out and kick some butt!"

"Sounds good," Trey said.

"Fine with me," Nelly said.

"Alright then chums let's do this! LEEROY JENKINS!" I yelled and ran out into the clearing, Trey and Nelly not far behind. Trey and Nelly attacked the two ghost type Pokemon and easily landed some attacks, thanks to the distraction, before the Haunter and Shuppet knew what was going on.

"Hey what gives!" The Haunter growled.

"Alright Nelly!" I exclaimed, "Use Spark on the Haunter!"

Nelly jumped up but the Haunter used Night shade, at least I think it was Night shade. Nelly flew to the ground.

"Alright Trey! Use Flamethrower on the Shuppet!" I ordered.

Trey nodded and sent a wave of flame at the Shuppet, it dodged and hit Trey with Night Shade.

The Haunter licked Nelly and the Shuppet whacked Trey on the head.

"Alright Nelly, try using Spark on the Haunter again! Trey follow it up with an Ember!"

Nelly shot forward and tackled the Haunter, sending several jolts of electricity into its body. Trey sent a small fireball at the Haunter and managed to burn it. The Shuppet and Haunter both used Night shade again. This time, Nelly dodged the one aimed at him.

"Trey, you've got to learn how to dodge better," Nelly sighed.

"Shut up Nelly!" Trey exclaimed and sent a Flamethrower at Nelly, who jumped out of the way. This caused the Flamethrower to engulf the Shuppet, knocking it out.

Nelly gave Trey a sly smirk.

"Nelly!" I exclaimed, "Use Spark again!"

"You know I have other moves!" Nelly yelled back.

"Like?" I asked.

"Bite for one," Nelly said, "You know it is super effective on ghost-types."

"Oh yeah!" I exclaimed, "I totally forgot! Right then, use Bite!"

Nelly nodded and jumped toward the Haunter, clamping onto its body and scoring a critical hit! The Haunter fell to the ground, defeated.

"Alright!" I cheered, "That was awesome!" I walked over to the Munna and began to stroke her, "Its okay, the ghost Pokemon are gone now."

The Munna looked at me with a small tear in her eye, "ThanksI know you won't understand me when I say this but, I've always wanted to travel with a trainer, its just, I don't know how good of a Pokemon I would be."

"I think you'd do well," I smiled, "Just give it a chance."

The Munna looked up at me, confused, "You can understand me?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I can."

The Munna gave a small smiled, "I guess I could travel with you then."

I pulled out a Pokeball, "Just touch it and relax, then you'll officially be my Pokemon."

The Munna nodded, "The name is Charlotte."

I smiled, "That's a nice name,"

The Munna went over to the Pokeball and put its nose to it, a red light engulfed her and pulled her in. The ball shook a few times before a clicking sound was heard.

I held up the Pokeball in the air, "Victory!" I said, giving the traditional symbol. I knew that I had just climbed one more step up the ladder on my Pokemon journey!


	5. Chapter 5

One More Step Up the Ladder 5

I woke up the next morning after catching my Munna, Charolette, to the sound of Taillow's chirping.

"Hey Tess!" I exclaimed, noticing that my new friend was already up.

"Hey Jesse," She smiled, "I was wondering when you'd get up!"

"We're heading to Violet City now," I smiled.

"Great," Tess said.

After traveling to the Violet City Gym, I noticed that Makoto was standing outside the door to the gym.

"Jesse," Makoto said with a long, heavy sigh, "I have some bad news for you."

"What is it?" I asked her.

"You lost our bet," Makoto sighed.

I smiled, "Yeah, but we will eventually need to test each others strength," I began to say, "So if we meet again, let's have a battle!" I held out my hand, "Shake on it?"

Makoto nodded happily and shook my hand, "Jesse, I'll be going now, see you!"

I nodded and waved good-bye to Makoto.

Tess gave me an odd look, "Who was that Jesse?"

"That," I said, "Was an old friend of mine."

Tess shrugged and opened the door to the gym.

"So are you going to face the gym leader first or will I?" I asked Tess.

Tess sighed, "The more I think about it the more I'm not ready for gym battles. I think I'll just watch you."

"Very well," I said and walked in. A man in his twenties with short blue hair and white skin stood in front of me. He was wearing a dark blue shirt, with a light blue vest over it, and dark blue shorts. He had on white socks that looked like something someone in the olden days would wear.

"Look who it is," The man laughed, "If it isn't one of the academy's finest. The name is Falkner, and I've been waiting to battle you for sometime now!"

"Likewise," I said, "So, shall we throw down?"

"Most definitely," Falkner smiled, "Come on out Starly!"

"Charolette, you're up!" I said. The two Pokemon both took their places on the battlefield and got ready to fight.

"Starly, hit Munna with a wing attack!" Falkner ordered.

"Charolette, hit Starly with a hypnosis!" I commanded.

Starly flew into the air and then dove down towards Charolette, who fired a hypnosis beam at it but missed. Starly's wing slammed right into Charolette's face.

"Starly, circle around and hit Munna with a tackle!" Falkner shouted.

"Charolette, use confusion!" I exclaimed.

Charolette began to focus on Starly, but her focus was broken when Starly tackled her.

"Starly, circle around again and use wing attack once more!" Falkner ordered.

"Charolette, focus and use a psybeam!" I said with desperation.

Charolette focused her energy into a strange colored beam, but missed Starly as it hit her again.

"Man," Falkner laughed, "You're the academy's top student, right? Are you sure you're not someone impersonating him?"

"Oh no," I growled, "I'm just getting warmed up!"

Falkner laughed before Charolette hit his Starly with a hypnosis.

"Nice job Charolette!" I exclaimed, "Now use Dream Eater!"

Charolette floated over to Starly and began to much on the air around it, causing the bird pokemon to stir.

"Charolette, finish that Starly off with another psybeam!" I exclaimed as Charolette shot a strange colored beam at Starly, knocking it out.

"Smart move," Falkner smiled, "You get me to drop my guard and then let loose. Yep, you're the academy's top student alright."

I smiled, "Are you going to send out your next pokemon?"

Falkner nodded, "Pidgeotto, I choose you!"

"Nelly, show Pidgeotto the power of electric types!" I smiled.

"You might find that this Pidgeotto has a few surprises in store," Falkner smiled.

"Nelly, use Spark!" I ordered. Nelly jumped forward and tried to hit Pidegotto. The bird pokemon easily dodged and used mud-slap.

"Impossible!" I exclaimed, "Pidgeotto can't learn Mud-slap!"

"If you recall there was a time where Mud-slap was issued as a TM. The TM I was supposed to give to trainers who beat me," Falkner said, "Now a Mud-slap TM is difficult, if not impossible to find."

"I see," I growled as Nelly was thrown back by the attack, "Get back in there and use Bite!"

Nelly nodded and lunged at Pidgeotto, who dodged Nelly's attack again and slung mud in his face. Now my blood was beginning to boil.

"Nelly, hit Pidgeotto with a Spark!" I roared.

"Pidgeotto, use quick attack!" Falkner exclaimed.

Finally, I thought, something besides mud-slap. But the relief was temporary as Nelly was hit by Pidgeotto's attack.

"Pidgeotto, use mud-slap again," Falkner said calmly.

"Nelly, dodge this time and use bite on Pidgeotto!" I snapped. Nelly, managed to dodge Pidgeotto's attack before biting down hard on Pidgeotto's wing. Pidgeotto shook Nelly off and finished him off with a mud-slap.

I grunted in frustration, "Trey, come on out."

Falkner smiled, "There must be some plan you have. I know it."

Truth was I had no plan, all I could really do was keeping hitting Pidgeotto.

"Hey, Jesse," Trey said, "While the author was taking his sweet time to come out with updates to our story. I happened to "borrow" a cd from one of your friends!"

"You mean you stole a TM," I said, unimpressed.

"Ah yep!" Trey smiled, "Now watch as I heat up this battle!"

"Pidgeotto, use mud-slap on Charmander!" Falkner ordered.

"Trey, dodge that attack and hit Pidgeotto with a flamethrower!" I shouted. Trey smiled and hopped right over the mud Pidgeotto had thrown at him and shot a flamethrower, scoring a direct hit.

"Alright Trey!" I exclaimed.

"Pidgeotto, use gust!" Falkner commanded. Pidgeotto kicked up a small tornado and sent it at Trey. Small twister managed to engulf Trey and throw him into a wall. Trey playfully hopped out of the hole and laughed.

"Is that the best you've got? Just a little tornado?" He laughed.

Pidgeotto glared at Trey and dove towards him.

"Well here is what I've learn!" Trey exclaimed, all of a sudden, thousands of large rocks flew out of nowhere and crushed Pidgeotto.

"Your Charmander knows Rock Slide?" Falkner asked me.

"My Charmander knows Rock Slide?" I said before continuing with, "Of course he knows Rock Slide! Yep that was totally my plan!"

Falkner laughed and walked over to me, "In honor of you defeating me, I present to you the Zephyr Badge. Good luck on your journey Kid."

"Alright!" I exclaimed holding up the badge, "I got the Zephyr Badge from Falkner!"

"That is what I just said," Falkner sighed, "Do all you trainers do that?"

I laughed, knowing that I had just climbed one more step up the ladder.

(Author's note: A fun fact you all should know. In the original Gold and Silver games, Mud-slap was in fact a TM and was used by Falkner's Pidgeotto (Which was leveling 13, Pidgey's don't evolve until level 18 I believe) )


	6. Chapter 6

One more Step Up the Ladder 6

The next morning after defeating Falkner and claiming the Zephyr badge, Trey and Nelly were already bouncing around the campsite as I was greeted by the smell of something rather delicious.

"Hey Tess," I said, emerging from my tent, "Do you smell that?"

"Yes, it is me cooking," Tess replied.

"What are you making?" I asked with my mouth watering.

"Oran berry stew," Tess said.

"You think I could have some?" I asked her.

"When it is done," Tess told me, "Anyways, I heard something last night."

"What did you hear?" I asked.

"It sounded like someone getting out of your tent, you probably need to check and see if someone stole anything from your tent."

"Actually that was me. I just went outside to catch a pokemon."

"Did you catch it?"

I sent out Charolette, "Does that answer your question?"

"Most definitely."

Tess' Cyndaquill, Cynder, quietly hopped onto its owners lap.

"Well look who it is," Nelly laughed, "It looks like a good nights rest did you well."

"Who…who are you?" Cynder said, beginning to tremble.

"I was the pokemon who beat that Roger kid's Surskit!" Nelly trumpeted.

"Oh yes, you're so high and mighty for having a type advantage," Trey huffed as he rolled his eyes, "I could of beaten that Surskit easily!"

"Sure you could have," Nelly giggled.

Cynder went up to Nelly and began to eye him up and down.

"What can I say," Nelly laughed, "Females dig me."

"Oh you just be quiet!" Trey snapped.

"Calm down you two," I sighed, "Geez, do I have to put you two back into your pokeballs?"

"Oh no! No!" Trey and Nelly stammered, "Please anything but that!"

"Then you two will get along," I smirked.

"Breakfast is ready," Tess said and began to pour some Oran berry stew into a bowl before handing it to me.

I tasted it and my eyes began to water due to the fact that the Oran Berry stew was some of the best stuff I've ever tasted!

"Tess, where did you learn to cook like this?" I asked her.

"When your mom runs a restaurant in Goldenrod, you kinda pick it up." Tess smiled.

"Give me some of that!" Trey exclaimed.

Tess nodded and gave Trey a small bowl. He sipped it and shrugged, "This stew is kinda…well, meh."

Tess shrugged.

"Hey you!" We heard Roger's voice exclaim, "Give me back my Pokemon!"

"Finders keepers!" Another, familiar, voice laughed.

"You stole them from me!" Roger's voice yelled.

"Then maybe you should have been paying attention!" The other voice laughed.

"We better go check it out," I said to Tess, who nodded in agreement. When we made it to Roger, I instantly recognized the sixteen year old kid, with white skin, blazing orange hair, and blue eyes.

"Mike," I growled and looked at what he was wearing, "I should of known you were going to join Team Rocket!"

The kid turned around and laughed, "Why Jesse, long time no see! How have you been? Wait let me guess…you're still sad and broken because you couldn't even manage to beat me when it came to Pokemon!"

"Mike, you give that kid his Pokemon back!" I exclaimed.

Mike laughed, "You really think that you're going to make me give this runt his Pokemon back?"

I growled again, "I'll make you a deal then, if I win, you give the kid back his Pokemon."

"And what do I get if I win?" Mike asked, "Chopped Liver?"

"I'll give you my pokemon and Tess' too!" I snapped.

"Jesse!" Tess exclaimed.

I smiled, "I know what I'm doing."

Mike laughed, "Very well, Carvanha, let's go!"

"Perfect," I smiled, "Nelly, show them what you're made of!"

Mike laughed as he looked at my Pokemon, "You really think that little thing is going to beat me?"

"Yep," I laughed, "Nelly hit Carvanha with a Spark!"

Nelly ran towards Carvanha with its body giving off electricity, it jumped forward but Carvanha dodged and used water pulse on Nelly, sending him fall into the ground.

"This battle is already over!" Mike laughed, "Why don't you just give up now!"

"Nelly, hit Carvanha with another Spark!" I roared.

"Carvanha, use Ice fang!" Mike ordered. Carvanha dove at Nelly with its mouth wide open, revealing fangs that looked like they were made of ice! Nelly jumped out of the way and used Spark again, this time hitting Carvanha but also sustaining some damage.

Drat, I thought, Carvanha's Rough Skin ability is going to really take its toll on Nelly. But I've got to keep up the pressure!

"Nelly!" I exclaimed, "Use Tackle!"

Nelly ran forward and hit Carvanha with his body.

"And here I thought you were just going to use Spark!" Mike laughed.

"Nelly, hit Carvanha with another Spark!" I commanded.

"I stand corrected!" Mike laughed, "Carvanha hit that Shinx with a Water Pulse!"

Carvanha shot another blast of water at Nelly, but this time, my Shinx expertly dodged the attack and rammed his head into Carvanha's body. The impact of the attack managed to knock Carvanha out, but Carvanha's rough skin ability got the best of Nelly.

"Looks like we're both out of Pokemon," Mike smiled.

I laughed, "Are you kidding? I still have two more!"

Mike looked at me in shock, "You may have won this time Jesse!" He snarled, "But I will beat you like I always did!" with that, Mike ran off and dropped the pokeballs containing Roger's Pokemon.

I laughed, "You bring it however you want."

Roger ran over to the Pokeballs and picked them up, "Thanks Jesse!"

"No problem," I smiled, but with Mike on the loose, my journey to climb one more step up the ladder just got harder.


	7. Chapter 7

One More Step Up the Ladder 7

After defeating Mike and getting Roger's Pokemon back, Tess and I were back on the road again. Trey and Nelly seemed to get along until Trey spoke up.

"Ya know Nelly, You're lucky that you're traveling with an awesome Pokemon like me!" Trey smiled, "Because if you weren't Jesse wouldn't have that badge!"

Nelly growled, "I would have had it if that Pidgeotto didn't know mud-slap!"

"Yeah right," Trey giggled, "Did you see how many times you missed?"

"That was because I had mud in my eye!" Nelly roared.

"Excuses, Excuses," Trey laughed.

"Well excuse this!" Nelly roared before tackling Trey.

I sighed and sent both of them into their Pokeballs, "Finally some peace and quiet!"

Charolette looked at me, "Why do Trey and Nelly fight so much?"

"I have no clue," I said, "But if it is going to be a problem I might have to put Nelly away in the storage box."

"Why not Trey?" Charolette asked.

"He's my first Pokemon," I replied, "He's got a special place in my heart."

Charolette nodded, "I can sense that."

Tess looked at me oddly, "Are you talking to your Pokemon?"

I laughed, "Yeah I, uh, talk to my Pokemon all time! Helps stop me from going insane."

Tess rolled her eyes, "Whatever."

"So can you tell me anything about Mike?" Charolette asked me, "I sensed great anger between the two of you."

"Let's just say, Mike and I go way back and he is the main reason I waited two years to start on my Pokemon journey."

"Interesting, so you were afraid?"

"More like I was being too hard on myself."

"And Makoto?"

"Another old friend of mine, it was her talking to me that finally got me to go on my Pokemon Journey."

"I also sense something a bit…more."

"Like?"

"A possible romance?"

"Nah, nothing like that," I blushed.

Charolette shrugged, "Very well."

My stomach began to growl, "Hey Tess."

"What is it?" Tess replied.

"I'm hungry!"

"Well, I'm afraid I'm just about out of berries, so we'll have to find a restaurant or something."

"All the way out here?" I whined, "How are we going to find a restaurant in the middle of the wilderness?"

Tess pointed to a large brick building with a neon Pokeball sign.

"I stand corrected!" I exclaimed and rushed toward the building.

"Wait Jesse!" Tess shouted, but I was too far gone to hear her. As I opened the door, I was greeted by a waitress. She had black skin, brown eyes, and black hair done in a bun. She was wearing a typical maid's uniform. The restaurant looked like a typical place one would go to eat; only the tables and chairs were all circled around a battlefield. There was a small smoothie bar in the back as well

"Hello there and welcome to Eatin Battle!" The waitress smiled, "Would you like to take a seat?"

I nodded, "You betcha! I'm hungry!"

The waitress took me to a seat and handed me a menu.

"This all looks so good!" I exclaimed, "What do I want…"

I finally made up my mind and ordered a Veggie Burger with fries.

"Your order will out in a minute," The waitress smiled.

Tess burst in the door and sat my table, "Jesse, you shouldn't have ran off like that!"

"I was hungry," I said, "No one should get in my way when I'm hungry!"

Tess sighed, "You know how you pay for a meal here right?"

"With cash," I smiled, "Duh!"

The waitress came back with my burger and set it down. Like magic it disappeared before her very eyes.

"So how much do I owe you?" I asked the waitress.

"One battle," The waitress smiled.

I began to take out some cash, "One battle?"

"Yes," The waitress said.

"Alright! I'm totally up for that!" I exclaimed.

The waitress got up and took me to the battlefield; we took our positions and got ready to fight.

"Go Pidove!" The waitress exclaimed.

"Nelly, it is your time to shine!" I shouted, throwing a Pokeball. Nelly appeared on the battlefield, angry as ever.

"Oh I'll show Trey how you take down a bird pokemon!" Nelly roared and lunged at the Pidove, his skin giving off electricity. The Pidove had little time to dodge before Nelly hit in and sent it flying.

"Your Shinx is tough!" The waitress exclaimed, "Pidove! Hit it with a quick attack!"

Pidove swooped down towards Nelly at top speed. Nelly easily dodged and bit Pidove in the back.

"You've really got to shape up!" Nelly exclaimed, "Because I am owning you!"

"Nelly, hit


	8. Chapter 8

One More Step Up the Ladder 8

After eating a scrumptious lunch and having a great battle, Tess and I were about to leave the restaurant when I heard someone's voice call to me.

"Hey bro!" it said.

I turned around and saw a boy, about ten years old, with a yellow shirt, and black pants. He had a skin color similar to mine, dark green hair, and brown eyes.

"Jarod?" I asked the boy.

"That's right Jesse!" The boy smiled, "Mom is worried sick about you! You should get home as soon as you can!"

"Jarod, I can't I'm on a Pokemon journey,"

Jarod laughed, "Come on Jesse, stop pulling my leg!" I showed the Zephyr badge to Jarod, the look on his face was priceless, "Whoa dude! I thought you'd never leave the house! Much less the city! Hold on! Let me give you a few things!" Jarod said and handed me an orange backpack, a Pokewatch, and a blue badge case, "These used to be mine, but since I'm done with my Pokemon Journey, I don't think that I'll need them."

"You already finished your Pokemon journey?" I asked my brother.

"Uh, yeah! You didn't see it on the news? Boy wonder defeats the eight gym leaders in record time!" My brother said, "I literally have to come out here sometimes to avoid getting trampled on by my fans!"

"I see," I said.

"But, then again, I would be fun to see you mess up."

"What are you proposing?"

"Well, I was just wondering if I could tag along."

I sighed, "Fine, but tell Mom where you and I are going!"

"Already done," Jarod replied, "Now to get my camera and take pictures of when you miserably fail!"

"Thanks Jarod," I said, glaring at him.

"No problem Jesse!" My brother smiled.

"Okay Jesse, if you're done having a family reunion, let's go!" Tess said with a slight hint of anger.

The three of us stepped outside the restaurant and resumed our journey. After several hours of walking, we reached a cave with some hiker standing outside it.

"Don't go in there!" The hiker exclaimed.

"Why not?" I asked him.

"There is a Pokemon in there that doesn't hesitate to fight! It even attacks humans!" The hiker exclaimed.

"Are you sure?" Jarod asked, "Because last I checked Pokemon couldn't attack humans…well if you don't count the shadow Pokemon in the more obscure regions. Then again they never really attack trainers, they just attack other Pokemon like every other Pokemon."

"It was one of those shadow pokemon!" The man exclaimed, "It had a red aura around it and everything!"

"Right," Jarod laughed, "Come on Jesse! Let's go face certain death!"

Tess and I looked at each other before shrugging and following Jarod in. As we followed the twists and turns of the cave, we came into what looked like a small room. A trainer, who looked about fourteen, with brown curly hair, white skin, and glasses was busy battling a Riolu. This trainer also had on a black shirt and white cargo pants and battled along with an Oshawatt.

"Oshawatt, hit Riolu with an Ice beam!" The trainer exclaimed, Oshawatt shot a blast of pure ice at Riolu, who easily jumped out of the way and landed a Force Palm on the trainer's Pokemon, knocking it out. The trainer recalled his Pokemon and looked at me, "All yours."

I nodded and stepped forward, "Charolette, let's go."

Charolette floated out onto the battlefield.

The Riolu smiled, "Finally, a fight where I do not have the upper hand, this will be a fine test."

"Charolette, hit Riolu with a Psybeam!" I exclaimed. Charolette nodded and shot a strange colored beam at the Riolu, the attack hit and sent the Riolu back. The Riolu jumped into the air and sent a dark pulse from its body, the attack hit Charolette.

"Charolette, hit Riolu with a confusion!" I ordered. Charolette tried to focus on Riolu but was hit by a flaming kick from her opponent, "Blaze Kick!" I exclaimed, "Now I NEED to catch him."

Riolu jumped into the air again and tried to land another blaze kick. At the last second I ordered Charolette to use hypnosis. The Riolu began to close its eyes and drifted off into sleep.

"Charolette, use dream eater!" I exclaimed, My pokemon hovered over to the Riolu and began to munch on the air around it. The Riolu awoke soon after and looked pretty beat.

"Impressive," it smiled, "Very well Trainer, you have earned my respect," The Riolu stood still, "Take me on your journeys."

I smiled and tossed a Pokeball at Riolu, the ball shook for a few seconds before dinging.

"Alright!" I exclaimed, holding up the Pokeball, "I caught Riolu!"

Jarod smiled, "Jesse, you got so lucky!"

"I know," I grinned, "And you thought I was going to screw up!"

"You never know," Jarod said.

I looked at Tess and then at Jarod before smiling, because I had climbed one more step up the ladder.


	9. Chapter 9

One More Step Up the Ladder 9

About two hours after catching my Riolu, Tess, Jarod (My brother), and I finally made it out of the cave.

"You know Jesse," Jarod said, "I'd have thought that you would have gotten us lost twelve times by now."

I sighed, "I find your lack of confidence in me, disturbing."

"It's not disturbing! Its common sibling rivalry!"

I groaned, "Jarod will you can it?"

"Can what?"

"Gosh darn it Jarod!" I yelled.

"You two settle down," Tess snapped, walking in between me and my brother, "Do I have to play the mature figure here?"

"Yes," Jarod replied.

Tess grunted and rolled her eyes as the three of us came to a cliff. Standing near us was the trainer who had attempted to catch my Riolu. He looked the same as he had a few hours ago, with white skin, curly hair, brown eyes and glasses. He was also wearing his black shirt and white cargo shorts.

"Any luck?" He asked me.

"I've had a lot of luck," I smiled.

"Good," The trainer said, "Because we're going to need all the power we can get!" The trainer pointed down to a small well. There two men in team rocket uniforms stood, as if they were guarding the entrance.

"Team Rocket," I growled, "If there is anyone I hate more than Jarod it is these guys."

"And Mike!" Jarod added.

"We need to take care of them, if there is anything that will make these Rocket members leave, it is a battle," The trainer said, "Come on, Blue-haired guy, let's get to the bottom of this!"

"I have a name you know!" I exclaimed, "Its Jesse!"

"Mine is Brendan," The trainer smiled, "Pleasure to meet you."

With that the trainer began to expertly scale the cliff, I recalled my Pokemon into their Pokeballs and gulped. "It's a long way down!"

Brendan sighed, "You're fine!"

I nodded sheepishly and began to scale down the mountain; I almost had a heart attack half way due to some tiny rocks falling, but managed to make it down in one piece.

"Now that we got that little stunt over with," Brendan said, "These Rockets are going down!"

Brendan and I rushed over to the well, and confronted the two guards.

"Hey! I recognize that kid! That's the one who beat me while I was trying to catch my Shinx!" The first Rocket grunt said.

"I remember that other kid!" The other Rocket grunt said, "That was the guy whose Oshawott knocked out my Rattatta! Which is one of the best Rattatta's around!"

"Can it Joey," The first Rocket grunt said, "I take you two want to battle?"

"You bet," Brendan smiled.

I nodded.

"Alright then," The first Rocket grunt exclaimed, "Come on out Mightyena!"

"Rattatta, let's go!" The second Rocket grunt said.

"Tepig, I choose you!" Brendan exclaimed.

"Riolu, let's go!" I said.

As our Pokemon took the field, my Riolu gave me a look.

"My name is Douglas," It said.

I nodded, "Anyways, Douglass, use Force Palm on Mightyena!"

"Tepig, use Flame Charge on Rattatta!" Brendan ordered.

"Rattatta, use super fang on Tepig!" The second Rocket exclaimed.

"Mightyena, hit Tepig with a crunch attack!" The first rocket grunt commanded.

Mightyena leaped at Tepig, barely dodging Douglas' force palm, and bit Brendan's Pokemon, but Tepig managed to hit Rattatta and dodge its attack as well.

"Douglas, follow up with a force palm on Rattatta!" I shouted.

"Tepig, hit Rattatta with an ember!" Brendan yelled.

"Rattatta, hit Riolu with a quick attack!" The second rocket grunt ordered

"Mightyena, use crunch on Tehpig again!" The first Rocket grunt commanded.

This time, Tepig leapt out of the wave of Mightyena and hit Rattatta with an Ember! Douglas also managed to hit the Rattatta with his force palm, knocking it out.

"My beautiful Rattatta!" The second Rocket grunt exclaimed before picking up his Rattatta and running into the woods, crying.

The first grunt growled, "Who needs Joey anyways! Mightyena, Hit Riolu with a Tackle!"

Mightyena leapt towards Riolu who dodged and landed and Blaze kick to Mightyena's back.

"You left yourself open," Douglas said.

"Not as open as I'm going to make you when I rip you to shreds!" The Mightyena roared.

"Tepig, Finish Mightyena with a Tackle!" Brendan exclaimed, Tepig rammed its body into Mightyena, sending it into a tree and knocking it out.

"Dang," The Rocket grunt grumbled, "I've got to get out of here! No one should know that I lost to a kid," There was a brief pause, "Again!" with that, the first grunt ran off.

"Too easy," Brendan smiled and motioned to the well, "Come on Jesse, let's go!"

I shook my head in agreement as he and I climbed down into the well.

"Gee it's kinda dark," Brendan said.

"You bring a flashlight?" I asked Brendan.

"No," He said, turning around to look at me.

"I did," I smiled as I took out my flashlight and turned it on, aiding us in our trip through the cave. Brendan and I finally came to a small part of the well that was had several Slowpoke in it. Three grunts with butcher knives were walking towards the Slowpoke, probably trying to cut off their tails. Overseeing them was a person familiar to me.

"Mike," I growled.

The figure turned around, "Oh Jesse, are you back for a real beating?"

I smiled, "Mike you know what happened last time we met, right?"

"And I intend for it not to happen again!" Mike roared, "This time we will each choose one Pokemon from our party, who ever loses this one fight loses the battle!"

"I'll take on anything you've got!"

"Charmeleon, let's go!"

"Trey, you're up."

The second Trey and Charmeleon came onto the battlefield, their eyes locked.

"Everstone boy," The Charmeleon smiled, "Fancy meeting you here!'

"Melvin," Trey growled, "I will beat you this time! Traveling with this human has made me stronger!"

"You're all talk!" The Charmeleon laughed, "I bet you're not even close to the strength I am at!"

"Looks like we'll have to put that to the test!" Trey growled, taking a battle stance.

"Sounds good!" The Charmeleon laughed.

"Charmeleon, hit Charmander with a Slash!" Mike ordered.

"Trey, use Scratch!" I commanded.

The Charmeleon and Trey both ignored their trainer's orders and charged at each other with full force. Headbutting each other midfield and starting a game of who could over power who. Trey seemed to be gaining little ground as the Charmeleon managed to knock Trey on his feet and followed by using flamethrower. Trey, took the attack at point blank range before getting slashed several times.

Trey struggled to get up, "Yeah, I've still got it!"

The Charmeleon laughed, "I doubt it, Everstone Boy, and you were always weak!"

Trey grinned wickedly, "But I have learned a new technique since we last met."

"And that is?" The Charmeleon inquired.

"Rock Slide!" Trey exclaimed and summoned several rocks that managed to bury Charmeleon. The Pokemon emerged from the rubble.

"Nice try kid, but it isn't enough!" The Charmeleon roared and lunged at Trey, managed to cut Trey on the arm before getting hit by a scratch, "I was the first to evolve! I am the strongest one of all!"

"You might think that," Trey smiled, "But, remember what the pack leader said, there is always someone better than you."

"You'd like to think you are!" The Charmeleon laughed before jumping towards Trey, who jumped out of his opponent's way and sent another Rock slide onto him, this time, when the rocks cleared, the Charmeleon was out cold, "You see Melvin," Trey said, going over to the downed Charmeleon and putting his foot on its head, "It doesn't matter when one evolves, what does matter is what one does with the power he already has," Trey began to glow white and turned to me, "How was that for a victory speech?"

"Eh," I said, "It was a bit confusing; you might want to work it."

Trey grumbled as he stopped glowing, revealing that he had evolved into a Charmeleon.

"Trey," I said.

"Hold, let me think of something else to say," Trey said, "Strength is not determined by…" Trey then caught a glimpse of his hands, "Holy crap! How did my hands turn red?"

"You evolved," I smiled.

"I did," Trey said, "I mean…I did, yeah totally!"

Mike glared at his downed Charmeleon and looked over at his men, "Quick! Everyone get out of here! I hear the cops!" with that, the three Team Rocket members and Mike bolted out of the well.

"Nice," Brendan laughed and held out his hand, "We need to do this again sometime!"

I nodded, "Yeah, we should!"

I looked at Trey, who was bouncing up and down, and smiled because he had just climbed one more step up his own ladder.


	10. Chapter 10

One More Step up the Ladder 10

After defeating the Rockets at a well that was in the wilderness, and evolved Trey into a Charmeleon in the process, I was looking at my new friend Brendan, while Trey was tending to the Charmeleon Mike had left behind.

"How are you feeling Melvin?" Trey asked the Charmeleon.

"Just…" Melvin stopped mid-sentence and began to stutter, "Trey…you…you…evolved!"

Trey nodded and helped the Charmeleon up, "Yeah, now you need to get back the pack and tell them about this."

"You better come with me Trey, they might not believe me!"

Trey looked at me and then back at Melvin, "I would, but I've got friends who need me. I'll come back when I'm a Charizard."

The Charmeleon laughed, "Just one impossible challenge after another, eh Trey?"

Trey laughed too, "You can't get stronger if you don't push yourself. Now get out of here and tell my mom and pop that I'm alright."

The Charmeleon nodded and dashed out of the well.

"Well, if any Team Rocket Member appears, you now have my number," Brendan said, "Just call me and I'll try to be there as soon as possible," There was another brief pause, "Oh right! This kid named Roger asked if I'd seen you a while back. He wanted to fight you again, well, after you got the Hive badge."

I nodded, "Alright, so he'll be in Azalea town?"

"Yes, I think so," Brendan said.

"Then it is off to Azalea town to defeat Bugsy!" I exclaimed. As I emerged from the well, Tess and Jarod had just finished climbing down.

"Took you guys long enough," I laughed.

Tess sighed and Jarod spoke up, "We had a rocky start!"

"Oh you're so clever," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Thank you!" Jarod laughed and took a bow, "I do what I can!"

With that, the three of us parted from Brendan and headed off to Azalea town.

The three of us arrived at Azalea Town and quick found the gym. We entered and a boy, who looked like a girl, about sixteen, with white skin, purple hair, and a green safari outfit, excluding the hat.

"I take it you're the gym leader here," I said.

The boy nodded, "The name's Bugsy! I bet you're here to challenge me."

I nodded, "Yeah, I am."

"Then the show's ready to begin!" Bugsy exclaimed, Jarod and Tess took a seat by me and began to watch the battle, "Go Nincada!"

"Douglas, come on out!" I exclaimed and sent out my Riolu.

Bugsy gave me an odd look, "Nincada, hit Riolu with Fury Swipes!"

"Douglas, get read to use a Dark Pulse!" I shouted.

Nincada ran at Douglas with its claws ready to tear something apart, but Douglas easily dodged the attack and sent out a Dark Pulse, hitting Bugsy's Pokemon.

"Interesting," Bugsy said, "A Riolu that knows Dark Pulse."

"It doesn't end there sister!" I smiled.

"Nincada, use Leech Life!"

"Douglas, get ready with a Force Palm!"

Nincada ran towards Douglas and dug its fangs into his flesh. Douglas grunted in pain before shoving his palm right into Nincada's face, forcing it off.

"Nincada, hit Riolu with a scratch!" Bugsy commanded.

"Douglas," I smiled, "Show this gym leader your other secret trick!"

"This is going to hurt!" Douglas smiled before jumping into the air, as he came down; fire began to engulf his foot.

"Blaze Kick!" Bugsy exclaimed, stunned beyond belief as Douglas' attack hit Nincada's body.

"Come on!" Douglas exclaimed as he landed on the ground, "Show me some effective moves!"

"Nincada, use Fury Swipes again!" Bugsy exclaimed.

"Hit Nincada with a Force Palm!" I exclaimed.

Douglas nodded and punched the Nincada just before it could land its attack on him, knocking it out.

"Interesting," Bugsy smiled, "Okay, Beautifly, have a go at it!"

"Nelly, you're up," I said.

"Beautifly, hit Shinx with an Absorb attack!" Bugsy ordered.

"Nelly, let's try using a Thunder Fang!" I ordered.

Nelly, leapt into the air and dove toward Beautifly, his mouth wide open, Beautifly barely had time to dodge, but managed to and used its attack on Nelly, hurting him a tiny bit.

"Nelly, hit Beautifly with a Shock Wave!" I exclaimed.

"Beautifly, use Poison Sting!" Bugsy ordered.

Nelly called a quick blast of lightning from the sky which hit Beautifly. Beautifly was able to use its poison sting, but Nelly dodged the attack and landed on the ground.

"Is that all?" Nelly laughed as his body began to glow with sparks.

"Beautifly, hit Shinx with a Gust!" Bugsy shouted.

Beautifly kicked up a gust of wind, which turned into a small tornado and flew towards Nelly. Nelly, unfortunately, was hit by the tornado and was thrown about.

Nelly stood up and grunted, "I've got this."

"Nelly," I began to say, "Use Bite!"

"Hit Shinx with an Absorb!" Bugsy commanded.

Nelly lunged at Beautifly, but missed and crashed into the ground. Beautifly took this opportunity to hit Nelly with its attack.

Nelly cried out in pain as his body began to give off high voltage electricity, "Oh no, I'm not letting a flying type beat me this time!" with that, Nelly jumped forward again and rammed hit head into Beautifly's body as the room began to light up with random sparks of electricity. When the electricity stopped, Beautifly was on the ground knocked out.

"That was a pretty cool finished," Bugsy smiled.

"Thank you," I said.

"Now Scyther, Come on out!"

"Trey, you're up!"

"Scyther, use Quick attack!"

"Trey, hit Scyther with a Fire Fang!"

Scyther dart towards Trey at a blinding speed and managed to hit Trey with its attack before being bitten by Trey's Fire Fang.

"Scyther, hit Charmander with a Vacuum Wave!" Bugsy roared.

"Trey, hit Scyther with a Rock Slide!" I smirked.

"Rock Slide!" Bugsy exclaimed, "How many special moves do your Pokemon know?"

"A lot," I said.

Scyther's Vacuum Wave hit Trey and sent him into the wall of the gym. Trey nimbly hopped to his feet and summoned a cascade of rocks to hit Scyther. While Bugsy's Scyther managed to dodge most of the rocks, it was hit by a surprise boulder from above. Scyther fell to the ground, but got up and ran towards Trey.

"Hit Scyther with a Flamethrower Trey," I commanded.

Trey let out a gush of flame from his mouth which engulfed Scyther and knocked it back.

"This battle is far from over ya over grown lizard!" Bugsy's Scyther growled and sent a Vacuum Wave at Trey, who easily jumped over it and counter with a Fire Fang.

"If I were you I would keep my mouth shut!" Trey laughed and sent another Flamethrower at Scyther, this time though, Scyther dodged the attack and sliced Trey across the face, "Oh that is it!"

Trey and Scyther ran towards each other one more time, as they butted heads in the middle of the battlefield, Trey used Rock Slide. My Charmeleon jumped back, which caused Bugsy's Scyther to fall onto the ground and be pummeled by the Rock Slide.

Bugsy sighed, "I'll admit, that was a tough battle. For that," he said as he held out a badge that looked like a ladybug, "I present to you the Hive Badge."

"Alright!" I exclaimed, holding the badge up into the air, "I got the Hive Badge!"

Jarod and Tess were clapping for me as I smiled, for I had just climbed one more step up the ladder.


	11. Chapter 11

One More Step Up the Ladder 11

Bugsy sighed as we finished our business, "I'll admit, that was a tough battle. For that," he said as he held out a badge that looked like a ladybug, "I present to you the Hive Badge."

"Alright," I exclaimed, holding the badge up into the air, "I got the Hive Badge!"

"That's great," Jared said, "Now can you stop holding it up, we're not in the Legend of Zelda."

I shrugged and put the badge in a case.

"Also, take this technical machine for X-scissor," Bugsy said and handed me a light green disc.

"Thanks," I said and took the TM, after leaving the gym we decided to stay the night in Azalea town. That night was uneventful, but that was a welcome change of pace. The next morning Jared, Tess, and I resumed our journey.

"You know, the Ilex forest looks like a nice place," Jarod said and looked at forest ahead of us.

"Yeah," I replied as a small shiver went down my spine. You never know what you could find in these places.

"I'll lead the way this time," Jarod said, "Jesse couldn't lead us out of an open field."

I grumbled under my breath and we set off into the forest.

"Legend has it that there is a guardian of this forest that helps travelers who are lost," Tess said.

"Whatever," Jarod said, "If we do get lost I'll just fly us out of here!"

"I'll admit it is better than rely on something that may or may not exist," I said.

"Oh come on Jesse!" Tess exclaimed.

"Yeah come on Jesse," Jarod smiled, "Have faith in a fairy tale!"

I groaned before we reached a clearing. There, a kid with dark red hair was busy cutting wood.

"What is a kid like him doing out here," Tess whispered to me.

"I don't know," I whispered back.

"He's chopping wood guys, it's not that hard to figure out," Jarod whispered to us.

"But why is he chopping wood?" I inquired.

"Probably because he wants to build a fire,"

"Why?"

"To cook food,"

"Why?"

"Because he's hungry Jesse," Jarod snapped.

I chuckled and approached the boy, "Hey what are you doing all the way out here?"

The boy stared at me long and hard before pulling out a piece of paper with a Farfetch'd drawn on it.

"Are you looking for a lost Pokemon?" I asked.

The boy nodded.

"But you're chopping wood," I said, the boy made a few more motions, "But Farfetch'd helps you cut the wood?" The boy nodded, "And you need someone to find it?" The boy nodded again, "Where did it go?" The boy pointed to the east, "Then that is where I'm headed." The boy smiled and our group set off yet again.

"How did you know what that boy was saying?" Tess asked me.

"Educated guesses," I said, "educated guesses are what I do best."

"And that's the only thing you do best," Jared grinned wickedly.

I sighed and walked further into the woods.

"Hey Jesse, does your Munna sense other people?" Jared asked, "If so, send it out and let's see if we can't find this Pokemon."

I nodded and sent out Munna, "Hey Charolette, do think you could find a Farfetch'd for us?"

Charolette smiled and sniffed the air, "I sense something, but it is not any bird Pokemon I know of."

"Then what is it?" I asked.

"Desperation," She said.

I thought for a second, "Take us to it," Charolette began to fly off.

Jarod gave me a small applause, "I don't know how you make Pokemon do stuff Jesse, but it is awesome!"

I shrugged and followed Charolette deeper into the woods. I soon heard what began to sound like whimpering.

"Come on guys," I called to the others, "Keep up!"

"We doing the best we can!" Tess exclaimed.

"Are you kidding?" Jarod said as Maka, his Arcanine, flew past Tess and me. We came to a tree with two Rocket grunts by it.

"Come on Torkoal, smoke'em out!" The rocket grunt exclaimed.

"Drowzee get ready to put the Pokemon to sleep!"

"Hey!" I exclaimed and burst onto the scene, "You can't do that!"

"Yes we can," The first Rocket grunt smiled.

"No you can't," A familiar voice said, Mike stepped out of the shadows in his Rocket uniform.

"Oh Mike, when will you learn that you have no say in things," The second Rocket grunt said, "Or are you just mad you're not going to get this rare Pokemon."

"A little bit of both," Mike said and looked at me, "I know I'm going to regret this but Jesse, let me fight with you!"

I looked at Mike and growled, I knew he was going to back stab me, "Fine, but we're battling afterwards to see who gets that Pokemon."

"Let's just get this battle done with first, Go Carvanha!" Mike exclaimed.

"Okay, Nelly let's see what you can do!" I exclaimed before sending out my Shinx.

"Torkoal, use Flamethrower on Shinx!" The first Rocket grunt ordered.

"Drowzee, use Low Sweep on Carvanha!" The second grunt snapped.

"Crunch!" Mike shouted.

"Nelly, use spark on Torkoal!"

Nelly nimbly left over the flame before gracefully falling down and hitting Torkoal. Nelly fell to the ground and stumbled a bit, a headbutt like that couldn't be good for the cranium. Drowzee ran forward and slid low, hoping to hit Carvanha on the chest. Carvanha didn't react as fast as a normal Pokemon should have and was sent back a few feet. But it did manage to leap forward like a predator about to gnaw on its prey and bite Drowzee with a force that would normally shatter a man's rib. The trainers ordered their partners to attack again. This time, Torkoal tried to body slam Carvanha and jumped high into the air. Carvanha didn't get out of the way and immediately found out what dirt tasted like. Drowzee smacked Nelly so heard I could have sworn Nelly's cheek was going to fly off nonetheless he staggered up and dug his teeth Drowzee's flesh. Carvanha hit Torkoal with what looked like the force of a tsunami as water splashed everywhere.

"You're tough," The first Rocket grunt said to Mike, "I'll admit it's been a good workout for my Pokemon."

"Yeah, well your Pokemon is going to go down!" Mike exclaimed as Carvanha sped towards Torkoal, this time knocking it into a rock formation, knocking it out.

"Nelly, bite Drowzee!" I ordered.

"Do you know how horrible he tastes?" Nelly snapped.

"Quit your whining," Carvanha snapped, "I've bit through worse!"

"Really," Nelly smiled, "Like what?"

"Fruitcake,"

"Ouch," Nelly cringed before lunging at Drowzee. Drowzee side stepped, but not in time as it was bit on the head.

Drowzee stumbled much like Nelly had when he attacked Torkoal before collapsing on the ground, knocked out.

"Well we've run out of Pokemon!" The first grunt exclaimed.

"The boss will hear about this!" The second grunt exclaimed and darted off, the first one not far behind him. I looked at Mike, who looked at me.

"You deserve it," Mike said before recalling his Carvanha and slowly walking away, his hands in his pockets.

"Boy, what is up with him," Tess said, "I mean why would he help you?"

I shrugged, "He's up to something, I just know it," I looked at the tree. Inside was a Farfetch'd.

"Awesome!" I exclaimed, "Now all we need to do is find that kid and," no soon did I say that then the kid came out of the bushes and ran over to the tree, pulling out the Farfetch'd.

"Emily, are you okay?" The kid asked.

"I'm fine," The Farfetch'd said.

The kid looked at me and smiled, "Thank you for rescuing Emily, I don't know what I'd do if she'd gotten captured."

"No problem," I said as Tess and Jarod looked at me, "What?"

"You can talk to dumb kids?" Jarod asked, "Dumb as in they can't speak."

"I guess it is another talent I have," I chuckled as the kid and the Farfetch'd began to walk away. All of a sudden, the Farfetch'd jumped out of the kids hands and ran towards me.

"Thanks for saving me!" The Farfetch'd exclaimed as the kid turned around, "Say…uh, can I travel with you?"

The kid looked shocked, "Emily! What are you saying?"

Something was up now; there was no way another kid could talk to Pokemon like I could.

"Did you see how he battled Zack? It was nothing like the other trainers!" Emily said before there was a puff of smoke. All of a sudden, the Farfetch'd had turned into a Zorua.

"What!" Tess exclaimed.

"Who didn't see this coming," Jarod sighed.

Tess raised her hand. I knelt down, "So you want to travel with me?"

Emily, the Zorua, nodded, "Yeah! Cause you're strong!"

"I don't see why not," I said.

The boy went over, as he did he too turned into a Zorua, "Fine Emily, just be careful alright?"

"You should look for that other trainer Zach," Emily said.

"The Rocket member who went and hid, I don't think so," Zach said, "But please try to visit again Emily."

"I'll try," Emily said as I put down a Pokeball, "Hop on in."

"Yay," Emily cheered as she hit a button on the ball. The thing wiggled a few times before it clicked.

"Alright," I exclaimed and held the Pokeball in the air, "I caught a Zorua!" A smile crept across my face as I had just climbed one more step up the ladder.


	12. Chapter 12

One More Step Up the Ladder 12

"I'll try," Emily said as I put down a Pokeball, "Hop on in."

"Yay," Emily cheered as she hit a button on the ball. The thing wiggled a few times before it clicked. 

"Alright," I exclaimed and held the Pokeball in the air, "I caught a Zorua!"

"You know how many people would pay to be in your position?" Jarod asked.

"How many people?" I inquired.

"Take the heaviest pokemon then multiply its weight by ten. That should give you an idea," Jarod responded, "Now come on, let's go."

I gave Tess an odd look as I followed Jarod, "You're jealous, aren't you." 

Jarod nodded, "A little."

"Don't worry Jarod, I'm sure you'll catch one," I said and pat him on the back.

Jarod laughed, "It's not like I need one. I would just trade it for something else."

I gave Jarod an odd look, very few words were spoken in that next hour that was until we reached what looked like a wooden shrine with a small pond by it.

"Do you think we should rest here for a bit," I suggested, "I mean we have been walking for a little while now."

"Sounds good," Jarod said and put his backpack down at the shrine. I sent out my Pokemon and began to relax.

Emily, the Zorua on my team, looked at Trey, "Hi."

"Hi," Trey said, "Are you a new member of the team?"

Emily nodded, "Yeah! It's going to be so awesome travelling with you guys! I'm going to get to see the world," The Zorua said with an ecstatic tone rivaling that of a girl on a sugar high, "Your tail is on fire! Let me put it out!"

"No!" Trey snapped, "Putting out my tail would kill me!"

"Oh you're so silly! We only die when we get old!"

"Tell that to the Cubone whose mother was killed by Team Rocket,"

"What! Those guys killed a Pokemon! How could they!"

"They're Team Rocket," Trey said, "And that's the way the world works."

Emily almost began to cry but spied Douglas sitting down by the pond, "Hey! What are you doing puppy!"

"I am known as Douglas," My Riolu said, "Right now I am meditating, it helps calm the body down and relax."

"Really, because you just look like you're crossing your legs," Emily said and began to inspect Douglas.

Douglas sighed, "It also helps if I do not have anyone trying to distract me."

"Oh," Emily said, "Okay," She went over to Nelly and sat down, "You did well battling that Torkoal."

Nelly nodded, "Yeah, but I've got this massive headache I need to get rid of," Nelly said, "That is the last time I head-butt someone for a long time."

"Yeah, that did seem like it hurt," Emily said.

"Also, don't worry about Trey; he's just trying to make you cry," Nelly continued, "I would take what he says with a grain of salt."

Emily shrugged and went up to me, "You guys sure are boring."

I laughed, "Everyone is just trying to relax right now. They get really talkative around nighttime."

Emily began to bounce up and down, "I love the night time, we can play tag, or hide and seek or maybe we could scare people!"

"Scaring people isn't nice," Charolette said.

"Oh, Hi!" Emily exclaimed and bounced over to my Munna, "I didn't see you there!"

"I don't like to be seen," Charolette said.

"Aw come on! You look cute! I really love the floral patterns on your skin!" Emily smiled.

"Thanks," Charolette said and flew to the river.

Emily sighed, "Geez!"

"Give them time to warm up to you," I said.

"Aw! But I want to have some fun now!" Emily said. All of a sudden I heard what sounded like bicycle wheels spinning.

Jarod got up, "There he is, right on schedule."

A man in his late twenties with bicycle shorts and a red short-sleeved shirt rode up to the pond on a bicycle, "Hey Jarod, why did you call me?"

"Rematch," Jarod smiled, "If we're going to be in top shape for the tournament we've got to keep practicing!"

The man got off his bike and smiled, "Okay, pick three Pokemon and let's go!"

"Who is this guy?" I asked Jarod.

"This is John; I met him during the Tag Team Tournament Finals last year. He's a famous guy back in Kanto!" Jared said, "Too bad Red and Blue are a lot more popular than this dude"

"This is your brother?" John asked, "I'll admit I've been hearing some strange rumors about you."

I laughed half-heartedly as I put one hand behind my head, "Really now, what have you heard?"

"You're busting up Team Rocket's operations for starters," John said, "and that you talk to Pokemon."

"I don't even see how you could come to that conclusion," I laughed, "No one can talk to Pokemon!"

"Except N," John said before looking at Jarod, "Ready?"

"You bet I am!" Jarod exclaimed as he sent out a Tropius.

John grinned and sent out a Vaporeon.

"Tropius, Use Razor leaf!" Jarod ordered.

"Vaporeon hit Tropius with an ice beam!" John ordered. A look of dread crept onto Jarod's face as he knew just how screwed he was. Tropius sent several leaves flying out from his back which sped towards the beam and cut it like a hot knife through butter. The leaves shot past Vaporeon and left what looked like good sized cuts on its skin. It grunted and shot another ice beam at Tropius. I felt the cold from that attack; I could have sworn that I had been transported to Ice Path for a few brief seconds as the blast hit Tropius' neck, causing the Pokemon's muscles to stiffen as it gasped for air for a few brief seconds. Vaporeon took that time to fire a beam of shining, multi-color light at Tropius. I could now see my breath. The attack hit and knocked Tropius off balance. Vaporeon jumped into the air and let out another ice beam. This one encased Tropius in an icy tomb.

"You've got to watch out for stuff like that," John said.

Jarod smiled and sent out a Pichu. I knew things had gotten serious the second Jarod sent out that Pokemon, "Pichu, use Electro-ball." John and his Vaporeon braced for the attack, but little did they know that they wouldn't see it coming. Pichu's body began to glow bright and give off electricity, the electricity formed around Pichu's body as it took off with a speed so fast, I swear it was traveling at the speed of light. Not a second later, the ball came out of nowhere and hit Vaporeon's left side. Electricity flew from the ball as I heard Vaporeon's bones shatter. After the spectacle of sparks was over, Vaporeon fell to the ground whimpering. John growled and recalled his Pokemon. Jared recalled his and the two started another round of combat. John sent out a Vensaur and Jarod sent out a Blaziken.

"Venasaur, use Earthquake!" John ordered.

Jared remained calm, "Blaze kick."

Venusaur slammed its front feet on the ground as a powerful earthquake shook the forest. Blaziken smiled as it jumped over the earthquake and landed a direct hit on Venusaur's face. Blaziken couldn't help but grin as it flipped off of its opponent's face. This however, gave Vensaur ample time to use Earthquake again, this time knocking Blaziken to the ground. Vensaur then stood on its hind-legs and proceeded to body slam Blaizken, lying down in a small crater created by the attack.

"Venusaur can't learn body slam!" Jarod exclaimed.

"You obviously haven't been to a good move tutor," John smiled but noticed a small fire under Vensaur's feet. All of a sudden, a geyser of fire shot forth and sent Venusaur several feet into the air. When the Pokemon landed, it was knocked out. Blaziken tried to stay up, but collapsed as well.

"That leaves one Pokemon for each of us," John said.

Jarod sent out his Pichu as John sent out a Raichu.

"Pichu, Electro-ball," Jared smiled as Pichu surrounded itself in a ball of electric energy. Pichu soon disappeared but appeared behind Raichu.

"Raichu, Thunder wave!" John exclaimed. Raichu whipped around and sent a powerful jolt of electricity at the lightning ball, causing it to come to a halt. Pichu looked up at Raichu as John ordered the next attack, Thunder. A powerful bolt of lightning flew from sky and sent trillions of volts into Pichu's frail body. When the bolt was over, Pichu lay on the ground, knocked out.

"I win," John smiled.

"This isn't over," Jarod said, "I expect a rematch."

John nodded, "Of course, but we'll have to do it later," He said, "I've got a few battles to do before I can participate in this year's tournament."

"Fine," Jarod said as John went over to me and asked me for my Pokegear number. We exchanged numbers before John hopped on his motorcycle and sped off. I looked at my Pokemon, who had intently watched the fight.

"We're going to be doing stuff like that one day," I said. My Pokemon spared no time in giving a shout of victory. I was glad they shared the want to climb one more step up the ladder.


	13. Chapter 13

One More Step Up the Ladder 13

"You see that guys," I asked the group as we finished watching the battle my brother Jarod had with a trainer named John, "We'll be doing stuff like that."

"Sweet," Trey smiled, "So I'm actually going to be able to break some bones?"

Nelly looked at Trey, "I want to be just like that Raichu! Did you see that guy? He blocked that Pichu's attack!"

"The Blaziken was much cooler," Trey smirked.

"I bet that Raichu could beat Blaziken!" Nelly exclaimed.

"How much are you willing to bet?"

"I'm willing to bet an Oran Berry that it'll win,"

"I'll raise it to a Sitrus Berry,"

"Deal!"

Douglas sighed, "You two should be studying the techniques of your opponents. That way, you will be better equipped to fight them."

Emily nodded, "Yeah! Listen to Puppyman!"

"My name is Douglas," My Riolu said.

"Puppyman is a much better name!" Emily exclaimed as Douglas put his palm on his face.

Jarod had a look of jealousy on his face, "Come on guys, let's get to Goldenrod City!"

"What can't take a loss?" I asked.

"You shut your mouth Jesse!" Jarod snapped.

I shrugged and recalled my Pokemon before we set out for Goldenrod City. We eventually left the forest and came to an open field.

"The sun is setting guys," Tess noted.

"Thank you Tess," Jarod said, "From now on you can have the job of pointing out the obvious!"

Tess looked at Jarod, "Look I'm sorry you lost, but don't take it out on me."

Jarod smiled, "I wasn't taking it out on you," He said and sat down, "It's just I hardly ever lose."

"Trust me, no trainer is perfect," Tess smiled before patting Jarod on the back. I decided to leave the two alone and sent out my party again.

"What is it now?" Trey asked me.

"We need to start setting up camp," I said, "Trey, go find firewood. Douglas, help me set up the tents. Nelly, Emily, and Charolette, come up with an idea of what you want to eat tonight."

"This will be fun," Nelly smiled, "I've got the perfect idea…Rice balls!"

"Rice balls?" Emily said, there was a short paused before she began to bounce around, "I love rice balls, especially ones with jelly filling!"

"Those are called Jelly Donuts," Nelly said, "But Rice Balls are still delicious."

"Oh," Emily said, trailing off.

The three began to debate on what to have for dinner. Douglas and I began to set up the tents, which was done in a matter of minutes. Trey came back with some firewood and we set up camp. Tess and Jarod came over as I began to make Rice Balls, the dish Nelly and the others had decided on.

"Hey guys," Trey said, "I'm going to go out and have some fun. Who's with me?"

"Fun!" Emily exclaimed as she and Trey ran deeper into the field. Not two seconds later I heard a snap followed by Trey calling for help. I walked over to the origin of Trey's voice to find that he was hanging from a tree with a rope tied to his leg.

"Could you get me out of here," Trey asked.

"Yes!" A voice exclaimed, "I've finally caught you Entei!" All of a sudden a boy that looked about fourteen jumped out of the shadows with a Pikachu shirt on as well as blue jeans, "Oh…it's only a Charmeleon."

"That would be my Charmeleon," I said, the boy turned around and almost froze.

"So, uh what brings you out here?" He stammered.

"My friends and I were heading to Goldenrod City, You know, this really isn't the best spot to find Entei," I said.

"True," The kid sighed, "But it's about as far away from the ranch as my parents will let me go."

"Speaking of your parents, I bet they're worried sick about you," I said while the kid looked around, looking for an excuse to bolt, "Do you think they'd let you camp with us?"

The kid looked at me and tried to say something, "Well…I…I mean my parents are used to me staying out for long periods of time on a night like this," He said and gulped, "I suppose I could stay with you."

I smiled, "The name is Jesse, yours?"

"Connor," The kid said quietly.

I led the kid to our camp, Jarod gave me an odd look, "Who is that?"

"This is Connor, he's a friend I met out in the woods," I said.

"People aren't like Pokemon Jesse," Jarod snapped, "You can't just randomly befriend the ones in the woods!"

"He's staying the night with us," I said.

"Fine," Jarod said, "But if our Pokemon are stolen in the morning don't come crying to me!"

Connor looked at Tess and Jarod and cringed.

"Aw, you have nothing to be afraid of," Tess smiled. Connor relaxed and sat down.

"So, you said your family owns a ranch?" I asked Connor.

He nodded, "It's not that far from here," He said and pointed to what looked like a small house jetting out from the pristine plain.

"You think we could stop by there?" I asked him.

Connor nodded, "Hopefully we find a way to cure our Miltank."

"What's wrong with it?" Tess asked.

"She's extremely sick, Doctors have tried everything. No luck." Connor said.

"That's horrible!" Tess exclaimed.

"Yeah," Connor said and took a rice ball.

"So you're betting an Oran Berry that Jarod's Blaziken can beat that other guy's Raichu?" Emily asked Nelly.

My brain began to formulate an idea. I was going to have until morning to execute the plan though. The rest of the night Tess, Jarod, and I talked. Connor just looked up at the sky and paid no attention what-so-ever to what was going on. We soon fell asleep and morning came about as quickly as the night. I woke up to see that the day was young and the light of the sun reflected off the fresh morning dew. Connor was up sitting in the field with his eyes closed.

"Hey what are you doing?" I asked him.

"Meditating," Connor said, "It helps clear the mind," He said and stood up, "Well, why don't we go check my traps?"

I nodded and went with Connor to check the traps. To our surprise, a girl with long blonde hair and a shirt with a P on it was standing beside one of the traps, "So, the villain finally shows his face!"

"What," Connor said, instantly taken aback by the fact that he had been called a villain, "Who is the villain?"

"You," The girl said and pointed at Connor, "And your entire family! You keep that Miltank locked up and milk it for your own benefit!"

Connor glared at her, "How did you know about Bessie?"

"I'm the one who put her out of her misery!" The girl growled, "That poison I gave her will put an end to her pain-ridden life!"

"You idiot," Connor roared, "You took out our only source of income!"

"You shouldn't make a living off hurting Pokemon!" The girl yelled, "And you and your family will leave this place if I beat you in a battle."

"Really, you poisoned our family's Miltank just so that you could have a battle with me?" Connor growled, "You could have just asked nicely!"

"You wouldn't have listened," The girl smiled, "And this time I brought back up! Oh King N!"

A man with long, lime-green hair stepped out from the shadows.

"Too bad Connor brought back-up too," I said and slammed my foot down, "I'm not letting you get away with harming Pokemon!"

"Then turn on Connor!" The girl yelled, "Without his actions the poor Pokemon would have never been hurt!"

"I'm not turning my back on him," I said and stared at the man named N, he looked at me to. He must have sensed my ability to talk to Pokemon because he gave a smile one would give a brother, "Come on out Douglas!"

"I'll make you pay for harming Bessie," Connor growled as he whipped out a Pokeball, "Come on out Hitmonlee!"

"Go Purrlion," The girl said while N smiled and sent out a Cottonee.

Connor ordered his Hitmonlee to use a Hi jump kick. Douglas was ordered to use Blaze kick. Hitmonlee and Douglas jumped into the air and did a flip before falling feet first toward their opponents. Douglas hit Cottonee on its head while Hitmonlee drove Purrlion's face into the ground and slid several feet on it before jumping off and landing perfectly.

The girl roared as N remained calm, "Cottonee, use Energy Ball."

Purrlion was ordered to use Slash, the cat ran up to Hitmonlee and tried to rend its flesh. Hitmonlee saw this, ducked under the attack and kicked Purrloin into the ground.

"Remember, do not let your trainer's rage consume you," Douglas said.

"Wish words," Hitmonlee replied as fire appeared around his foot, Douglas began to tighten his focus and Hitmonlee ran towards Cottonee, "Young one! Prepare to attack!" Hitmonlee jumped over Cottonee and round house kicked it toward Douglas, who slammed his paw into its face with the force of a semi-truck. Cottonee flew several feet into the ground and was knocked out cold.

"Don't worry N," The girl exclaimed, "I'll take care of this evil doer!"

N sighed, "Andrea you need to learn how to pick your battles," He said and pointed at me, "We've already lost this."

"No we haven't!" The girl yelled, "Come on out, Duosion!"

"We have come master, what do you wish we do?" It asked.

"Use Psychic on Hitmonlee, now!" The girl ordered.

"We do as you command," The Pokemon said and began to focus on Hitmonlee. All of a sudden, Douglas rolled in the wave of the attack and sent what looked like a pitch black wave from his body. The attack hit Duosion and caused it to cringe.

"The darkness is over flowing! We cannot take it!"

N looked at the girl, "Call your Pokemon off, we lost."

"You can't just let them get away with this," Andrea snapped.

"Yes we can," N said, "They will eventually see the light, but not today." He said as Andrea recalled her Pokemon.

"Connor, you will pay for your crimes!" Andrea roared as she and N walked off.

"And that is why I don't like dealing with people," Connor said and recalled his Hitmonlee. I looked at N who gave me a wink. I had an odd feeling I'd be seeing him again as I continue to climb one more step up the ladder.


	14. Chapter 14

One More Step Up the Ladder 14

Connor clenched his fist as the girl who had poisoned his family's Miltank walked away.

"Who in the right mind poisons a Pokemon," Connor growled, "I can't believe the doctors couldn't find out that Bessie was poisoned."

"Don't worry, I've got an idea," I said, "Have you tried using Pecha Berries?"

"Tried that, it didn't work," Connor said.

There goes my plan, I thought, unless…"Have you tried Lum Berries. They supposedly can cure any status aliment Pokemon have."

Connor shook his head, "Those things are incredibly hard to find," He said, "But, My dad might know of a place where we can find some!"

"Shall we head to your family's ranch?"

"Yes, come on Jesse," Connor exclaimed and ran off to the west. I followed after him as my Pokegear rang.

"Hey Jesse," Jarod's voice said, "Where are you?"

"I'm going to Connor's ranch," I said.

"I have a good idea where that might be," Jarod said, "But me and Tess are just going to relax."

"Some help you are," I sighed.

Jarod laughed, "I do what I can Jesse," he said and hung up.

Connor and I came to a two story red house that looked like something you would find in the middle of a plain. There was a white barn out back with a few silos. Connor opened the door to the house and the two of us walked in.

"Mom, Dad! I'm home!" Connor yelled.

"I was beginning to worry about you sweetie," A womanly voice said from the living room.

"Yeah, we heard some thugs where in the area stealin' Pokemon!" A deep, twangy voice said from the kitchen. A man with a leather vest, denim shoes, and a white cowboy hat walked out of the kitchen, "What in tarnation is that blue haired kid doing here?"

"He has a plan to make Bessie better," Connor said, "But I need to know, are there any Lum Berries around here?"

"Lum Berries," The man said and scratched his head, "I remember seenin' one several years ago on one o'my walks."

"Fantastic!" Connor exclaimed, "Where were you taking the walk?"

"I think it was to the north," The man said, "Yer not goin' out to get one o'them?"

"Look Dad, there is no time to explain," Connor said, "Just trust me on this."

"Alright son," Connor's dad said.

Connor looked at me and sprinted out the door. I ran after him but trying to keep up with him was like trying to keep up to an Arcanine. It was no use. Connor cleared several branches and looked high and low for some kind of sign showing where the Lum Berries could be. When I finally caught up to him, I could see that his breath had escaped him and was probably taking a vacation somewhere in Unova, "How hard can it be to find some Berries?" He asked me.

"I think I know someone who could help us," I said and sent out Emily, "You think you could find some Lum Berries for us?"

Emily sniffed the air for a few seconds before catching a whiff of something, "Oh yes I can! Come on! Follow me!"

Emily jumped into one of the bushes and I looked at Connor, "Follow the Pokemon."

"Okay," Connor said, "Whatever you say…"

The two of us follow Emily as she jumped over logs, ran up trees, bounded across a stream, and let us to a tree that grew something that looked like a pepper.

"That's a Lum Berry alright," Connor said as Emily walked up to the tree. Instantly, she was caught in a snare trap.

"Is that one of yours," I asked Connor.

"No," Connor said.

"Finally," A female voice called from the bushes, "We've found a Zorua! The boss is going to be happy with us!"

"Indeed, maybe we'll finally get that promotion!" A male voice said.

"Will you guys be quiet!" A high pitched squeak said, "There might be trainers nearby."

I walked over to Emily and began to untie the knot, "Who the heck would trap a Lum Berry tree in the middle of nowhere?"

"That would be us!" The female voice said, "And that Pokemon is property of Team Rocket."

"Really," I sighed, "I think not!"

"It will be ours!" The male voice said as a white female with long red hair jumped out of the bushes.

"To protect the world from devastation," She began.

"To unite all peoples within our nation," A purple haired man said as he jumped out of the bushes and landed next to the woman.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love," The red haired girl said.

"To extend our reach to the stars," The purple haired boy said

"Jesse,"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight."

A Meowth jumped out of the bushes and exclaimed, "Meowth! That's right!"

I growled, "Team Rocket huh? Well I guess Connor and I will have to take you down!"

"Right you are," Connor said and took out a Pokeball, "Come on out Scyther!"

"Trey, come on out!" I exclaimed.

Jesse sent out a Seviper while James let his Carnivine come on to the battlefield.

"Scyther, use Wing attack!" Connor ordered.

"Trey, use Flamethrower on Seviper," I ordered.

Trey opened his mouth and bathed the fang snake Pokemon in flames just as Scyther flew over the tide of flame and his Carnivine with one of its wings. Unfortunately, Scyther was smacked by a long vine. The sound of the impact was so loud I figured it could wake up a Snorlax! Scyther shrugged the blow of like it was nothing. Then again Scyther was a bug and flying type so grass type attacks wouldn't be too terribly effective on him. Seviper's tail began to glow with a purple light and slammed into Trey, sending him right into a tree. My Charmeleon got up soon after that and tried to bite Seviper with his fangs dripping with hot magma. Scyther put its claws in an X formation and sped toward Carnivine. When it got to its target, it attacked with godly precision as an X-shaped scar appeared on Carnivine's chest. Trey failed to bite Seviper and was quickly bitten back, its fangs piercing Trey's leathery hide.

"Jesse, is this what you meant when you said that we'd be doing more violent stuff when we got better?" Trey yelped before biting Seviper. Scyther turned around and cut Carnivine with another X-scissor. Trey looked like he was going to be sick. I knew that very second that he was poisoned.

"Seviper, Venoshock!" Jesse ordered as Seviper sent a strange liquid out from its mouth. The attack hit Trey and sent him flying back.

"I can't go on like this," Trey said.

I sighed and recalled him, "You're going to need more training," I sent out someone who was fit for the job, Nelly.

"I'm already battling again?" Nelly asked me, "Man you must like me!"

"You're one of the ones I can put up to the job," I said, "Now, use Shock Wave!"

"Sure thing boss," Nelly said and sent a quick jolt of lightning from his body. The attack hit Seviper as it hissed.

"You sssure are a lot sstronger than your friend!" It exclaimed.

"I do my best," Nelly smiled as Scyther cut Seviper with black colored claw. Nelly saw that opportunity to bite into Seviper's skin and send several jolts of electricity into its body, "And that is how you bite snakey!" Seviper howled in pain and collapsed on the ground. Jesse recalled her Pokemon and sent out what looked like a Woobat who zoomed toward Scyther. When it got close it seemed to cut the wind violently and caused a wave that hit Scyther. Woobat then attacked with a blade of air. Nelly saw this chance as a time to unleash another Shock Wave, sending the Woobat a few feet back. Scyther darted towards the Carnivine and hit it with an X-scissor, knocking it out. James sent out a Yamask as Woobat hit Scyther with an Air slash, effectively knocking it out. Connor sent out his next Pokemon, a Vaporeon.

Nelly gave one look at the Vaporeon and smiled, "Do everything I saw, alright?" The Vaporeon nodded as Nelly ran forward, his body giving off electricity every which way, "Now!" Nelly said and jumped in the air, "Hit me with an ice beam!" Vaporeon looked at him oddly and fired a rainbow colored beam at Nelly. The beam hit his back and launched him towards the two opposing Pokemon like he was some kind of missile. Nelly hit the two Pokemon and knocked both of them out! As Nelly fell down he shook his head.

"Gosh, everything is so blurry," He said as he tried to remain balanced. All of a sudden, his body began to glow white. His body transformed into that of a Luxio, "Awesome! I bet Trey will be happy to have another evolved Pokemon on the team!"

I laughed as Jesse and James ran away. I looked at Connor, "Nice Job."

"Thanks," Connor said and smiled. I nodded, I was just happy that Nelly had climbed one more step up the ladder.


	15. Chapter 15

One More Step Up the Ladder 15

I looked at Connor as Jesse and James, two rocket grunts who had ambushed us as we tried to get some Lum berries, ran off.

"Typical Rocket Grunts," I sighed, "Anyways let's get some Lum berries and get out of here," Connor and I plucked a few berries from the tree before my Pokegear rang, "Hello?"

"Hey Jesse, this is Jarod, Meet us at the entrance to Goldenrod City," Jarod said.

"Okay," I replied.

"Just look for the guy battling another dude," Jarod said.

"You're in a battle?" I asked.

"Yeah, some guy and I made eye contact and you know the rule,"

"Yeah, that rule does suck. I'll be there soon," I said and hung up.

"You know," Connor said, "I've always wanted to go on a Pokemon journey. Perhaps my parents will let me go on one."

"It never hurts to ask," I said, "But I guess this is where we part ways," I said and handed him the Lum berries before both of us exchanged Pokegear numbers, "See ya Connor."

"Goodbye Jesse," Connor said as he waved to me with that, me and the farm boy parted ways.

"So Jesse," Emily said, "Do you know the way to Goldenrod?"

I nodded, "Yeah I think so."

"Just try not to get us lost," Nelly said.

I arrived at the gates to Goldenrod just in time to see Jarod's Aggoron destroy a Rampardos.

"Oh, hey Jesse," Jarod said as he received some money from the trainer he had beaten, "You missed my awesome battle."

"I bet I did," I said sarcastically.

"Come on, watching you battle is a borefest of snore," Jarod yawned.

"Let's just get to the Goldenrod City Gym," I said. After healing my Pokemon at the Pokemon Center, The three of us scoured the city for the gym. We searched high and low around corners, in busy streets, and we even got some ice cream. Finally, after about an hour or so, we arrived at the Goldenrod City gym, a girl with dark red hair done in boar tails was closing the door. Which was rather odd, it was the middle of the day, "Excuse me, do you know where Whitney is?"

The girl looked up, "That's me, I'm sorry but I won't be able to battle for a few days. I have to visit my family."

"Oh," I said, Just great…now I'm going to have to wait, I thought.

Whitney's Pokegear rang, "Hello," she answered, "Hey Dad. What do you mean Bessie is all better? Connor fed her Lum berries? Wow I can't believe I didn't think of that. Connor is a crafty person. He had help? From who?" Whitney paused and looked at me, "He's standing right in front of me. So he's also the reason Connor went on a Pokemon journey? It's about time; I thought he'd never leave the house! Yes, dad I'll tell him. I love you too, bye," with that Whitney hung up, "My dad wants to say thanks for helping cure Bessie's sickness. I guess I owe you a battle then huh?"

"That would be nice," I said.

"I won't go easy on you," Whitney said.

"I wasn't expecting you too," I smiled and took out a Pokeball.

"Come on out Jigglypuff!" Whitney exclaimed.

"Emily, let's see what you're made of!" I exclaimed and sent out my Zorua.

"Jigglypuff Doubleslap!" Whitney ordered.

"Emily, Night Daze!" I exclaimed.

Whitney's Jigglypuff ran towards Emily but was knocked back by a pulse from Emily's body. The black pulse turned into what looked like a monster made of pure darkness and charged at Jigglypuff, sending it a few feet back. Jigglypuff lunged again and slapped the ever-loving goodness out of Emily. My Zorua snarled and melted into the shadows. The Jigglypuff scanned the area, hoping to dodge the attack. Little did it know that Emily was already ready to pounce. Emily leapt out of the shadows and tackled Jigglypuff with the strength of a Pokemon her size. Jigglypuff got up and rammed its stubby arm into Emily's face. This didn't go over well with Emily, who used Night Daze again. This time the pulse turned into some kind of beam and hit Jigglypuff, who puffed up and smack Emily again.

"That's it," Emily growled and disappeared into the shadows again. A few seconds later she jumped out and tackled Jigglypuff, sending it into a street lamp! Jigglypuff tried to get up but couldn't. The street lamp didn't fare any better seeing as it has been snapped in half. Emily strutted over to me and curled into a ball.

Whitney sent out her next Pokemon, a Glameow. I decided to give Trey another work out.

"Again Jesse," Trey sighed.

"Look, you're going to need a lot more training. You fell to quickly to that Seviper," I snapped.

"Fine," Trey said and got ready to fight. I ordered him to use flamethrower.

"Glameow, Water Pulse!" Whitney ordered.

"What!" Trey and I exclaimed at the same time.

Glameow shot a pulsing blast of water at Trey's flamethrower. The tide of flame was immediately extinguished by the attack and the Water Pulse hit Trey. My Charmeleon shook his head and ran towards Glameow and bit it with fangs dripping magma. Glameow howled in pain as Trey bit down harder. I could tell he was taking a cue from Seviper he had fought. Glameow eventually slashed Trey's face causing the fire lizard to let go. One could easily see four pitch-black bite marks one Glameow's grey coat. Whitney's Pokemon sent another Water Pulse at Trey and sent him skidding back. I looked around and noticed that a crowd was gathering. Some were cheering on me, others were cheering on Whitney.

"Alright people place your bets!" Jarod exclaimed and began to take money from people.

"It's not right to gamble," Tess snapped.

"If gambling is wrong, I don't want to be right," Jarod smiled, "Which of course I always am!"

Tess sighed as Trey charged toward Glameow, this time getting slashed in the face before taking another Water Pulse. I saw the flame on Trey's tail; it was glowing brighter than ever. Maybe he wanted to get me off his case, or maybe he was that determined to win. I didn't care, as long as Trey pushed himself, I was happy. Trey sent an avalanche of rocks toward Glameow but the Catty Pokemon nimbly jumped from rock to rock and proceeded to jump to the ground. Trey smiled, the second Glameow landed, he sent out a flamethrower and singed the Pokemon's fur before using fire fang and tossing Whitney's Pokemon around like it was some chew toy. Glameow hit the ground, knocked out. The crowd roared with excitement as others in the crowd started booing me.

"Is this crowd getting to be too much?" Whitney asked me.

"Not at all," I said and looked around, I just hope they're not judging me too soon, I thought.

"Time for my last Pokemon, come on out Miltank!" Whitney exclaimed. I took out the Pokeball that contained Douglas and sent him out.

"Finally," Douglas said, "It's time to test my strength."

"Miltank use Rollout," Whitney ordered. Miltank rolled into a ball and sped towards Douglas, who side stepped out of the way and used force palm. The blast from his hand seemed to bounce right of Miltank, who turned around and tried to hit Douglas again. This time, Miltank was going at a faster speed. Douglas had little time to get out of the way, he tried his best to seize the moment but ended up getting hit and sent into a few trash cans. Douglas stood up and shook himself off.

"I'm good," He said and began to tighten his focus. He clenched his fist and got ready to punch Miltank as it came around again. Douglas clenched his teeth tighter as the Miltank closed it. The foe got closer. And closer. And closer. And closer. Suddenly, wham! Douglas' paw hit Miltank just as it was about to run into Douglas again. The punch sent Miltank flying backwards as Douglas tried to use Force Palm on it. Unfortunately, the Miltank dodged the attack and body slammed Douglas, leaving a crater on the ground. Everything was silent for a few minutes, until, a fire appeared under Miltank before it was flung into the air with a powerful kick. It landed on the ground, knocked out. Douglas stood up and smiled.

Jarod knew where Douglas had learned to do something like that and smiled, "What can I say Jesse, even your Pokemon are copying off mine!"

"Be quiet Jarod," I snapped as Whitney looked at her Miltank.

"Well, you won," She said, "And now I present to you the Plain Badge," She said and handed me a gold colored tilted-square shaped badge with bright white outer lining.

"Awesome!" I exclaimed, "I got the Plain Badge!" I smiled and held the badge up high. The crowd cheered as they knew I had climbed one more step up the ladder.


	16. Chapter 16

One More Step Up the Ladder 16

I held the Plain badge that I had just obtained from Whitney in the air as a gleeful look spread across my face. Whitney also handed me the TM for the move attract. Jarod distributed the money people had won from betting on the fight to them and things were starting to quiet down. All of a sudden Makoto, sporting long brown dyed hair, walked out of the crowd. She and I gave each other a look.

"We meet again," She said.

"Yep," I replied.

"Remember our promise?"

"Yep,"

"Best two out of three?"

"Sounds good,"

With that, both of us took out a Pokeball.

"Go Marshtomp!" Makoto exclaimed.

"Charlotte come on out!" I exclaimed.

The two Pokemon flung themselves at one another. Marshtomp sent out a blast of mud which hit Charlotte in the face. She shook the mud off just in time to get out of the way of a water gun attack. I ordered my Pokemon to use Psybeam. Charlotte sent out a multi-colored beam that seemed like it was curling around something. Marshtomp was hit by the attack as it stumbled around. It seemed like it couldn't see straight as it tried to fire several blasts of mud in random directions.

"Round 2 people, place your bets!" Jarod exclaimed.

Tess tried to discipline my little brother by smacking him on the back of the head. Jarod ducked under the disciplinary action and laughed as he collected money. One of Marshtomps mud blasts hit Jarod in the face. I cracked up laughing as I ordered Charlotte to use Hypnosis. Marshtomp easily dodged the white circles that came out of my Munna's mind and sent a water gun at her. The attack hit and caused her to move about an inch back. Charlotte retaliated by sending another Psybeam at Marshtomp, who once again dodged the attack before hitting my Pokemon with an icy blue beam that seemed to suck the heat right out of the air. Charlotte cringed before trying to send another Hypnosis out. Once again, Marshtomp dodged and hit Charlotte with a mud shot.

Come on, I thought, Think of something! You can't lose in front of all these people! All of a sudden, Charlotte sent out a green glob of energy towards Marshtomp. The glob of energy hit Marshtomp and sent it flying into the wall of a building. I smiled, a grass type attack was even stronger on Marshtomp seeing as it was a water and a ground type. Marshtomp fell to the ground, knocked out. I recalled Charlotte and looked at Emily.

"Are you ready for another round?" I asked her.

"Of course I am!" Emily exclaimed and jumped onto the field of battle.

"Go Axew!" Makoto exclaimed.

Emily ran onto the battlefield as Axew charged at her and tried to hit her with its arms twice. Emily dodged both of the attacks and used Night Daze, this time the pulse Emily sent from her body turned into a black apparition. Said thing flew towards Axew, who was cowering like a little kid, and rammed into it. The attack sent the Pokemon into a trash can. Axew hopped back up and fired a pulse of draconic type energy at Emily, knocking her back. After my Zorua hopped up it charged toward Axew with claws ready to tear flesh. She struck once. Twice. Three times! Three times before being slashed across her face by Axew.

"So you're a wise guy huh," Emily growled as she leapt towards Axew. Axew jumped out of the way and fired another blast of purple and orange energy at Emily. This time, it knocked her a few inches back. She growled and tried to swipe at Axew. Axew managed to block all of the attacks before slicing her with a great power wrapped around its hand. Emily grumbled as charged toward Axew once again, this time slipping into the shadows. Axew looked around before it was tackled by Emily and sent a few feet back. Emily was now furious; she jumped in the air and sent a gigantic glob of ominous tidings and dark desires at Axew. This attack actually hit and causing Axew to bounce off the ground. Emily took the chance to hit Axew with Fury swipes once again. Unfortunately, Axew's thick hide prevented so much as a scratch. Emily looked at this as her blood began to boil. She melted into the shadows again and several seconds later burst out of nowhere and tackled Axew with rib-shattering force. Axew barely seemed to flinch as it sent a Dragon Pulse at Emily. My Zorua hopped out of the way and used Night Daze. The dark pulse from her body once again turned into a dark apparition and flew towards Axew, who was scared stiff.

"Axew!" Makoto exclaimed, "Fight your fears! You can do this!"

Axew suddenly had a surge of courage as it sent one last dragon pulse out from its mouth. The pulse ripped through the apparition and hit Emily, dealing massive damage. Emily tried to get up but collapsed on the ground.

"I've got to work on her anger issues," I said to myself and recalled her. Makoto recalled her Pokemon as well and sent out a HootHoot, "Perfect, I know how to deal with this!" I sent Nelly out to the field and he smiled as several sparks flew from his body.

"Time to kick some butt," He cheered. Hoothoot took to the air and attempted to use Echoed Voice. Nelly easily jumped out of the way and tried to claw at Hoothoot. The bird Pokemon was too high in the air, I knew what had to be done though.

"Nelly use Shock Wave!" I ordered.

"No!" Nelly snapped, "I know how to do this!"

Makoto looked at Nelly's defiance and sighed, "Jesse, you've got to get your Pokemon to listen to you."

I hope you know what you're doing Nelly, I thought as Nelly looked for a precise moment to strike. All of a sudden he leapt onto a person's head, he jumped off the head and onto an awning, he used the bounce into the air and snatching Hoothoot right out of the air like it was a predator snagging its prey. Nelly fell to the ground and shook Hoothoot before throwing it by the way side. The Pokemon was knocked out.

The crowd cheered as Nelly laughed, "Yeah I know I'm awesome!"

Makoto looked at me and gave a sighed, "Too be honest I didn't think you'd make it past Violet City."

I shrugged, "Too be honest I never thought I'd make it past Violet City," I laughed, "But if we see each other again let's battle!"

"Shake on it," Makoto said. She and I shook hands and gave each other a nod only rivals can give. With that we went back to our journeys to climb one more step up the ladder.


	17. Chapter 17

One More Step Up the Ladder 17

Makoto smiled as we made our deal to fight once we saw each other again and went our separate ways. People were clamoring for a battle with me but Jarod easily pushed them out of the way with his Aggron.

"I'm so glad I have an intimidating Pokemon," Jarod smiled before someone in the crowd recognized him, "Crap! Run!" with that we took off with several adoring fans of Jarod right behind us.

"Is this going to happen every time we get into a city?" I asked him.

"Most likely yes," Jarod said, "Perhaps I should start dressing like a Pichu."

"That won't work," I said, "People already know that is your favorite Pokemon."

"I see," Jarod said as we finally ran into a small forest outside of Goldenrod City, of course, a mountain range was not far from the forest, "You know, we do too much battling," Jarod said, "I mean come on, everyday we've at least battled twice! Our Pokemon need a break from that kind of stuff!"

"Doesn't battling make you stronger?" I asked Jarod.

"Yes, but over working your Pokemon doesn't," Jarod said, "So for the rest of the day today, no more battles!"

"I suppose that could work," I said, "Maybe we could find a stream to swim in?"

"Maybe," Jarod said, "We all brought our swim gear right?" I nodded, Tess didn't, "Okay."

Emily's ears perked up as she began to sing.

"Gosh darn it!" Trey exclaimed, "I knew Jesse should have kept you in your Pokeball!"

"But I hear singing!" Emily smiled, "And I just can't help but sing along!"

"Jesse, we're finding the source of this singing and stopping it," Trey growled. Emily pranced off into the woods as Trey followed not far behind. Jarod, Tess, and I looked at each other and decided to follow. We came to a decent sized stream with a man bathing in it. He was singing a song before he caught sight of us and got out and put on a brown vest, long brown jeans, and a small cowboy hat.

"Sorry about that," The man said and walked over to us, "The name is Sinnoh Erik! The searcher of stories and the recoverer of ruins!"

"You made that title yourself huh," Jarod said sarcastically, "Surely you must be a respect member of the archeological community."

The man sighed as his golden hair sparkled in the sun, "I'm on the verge of a great discovery."

"Yeah, could the ancients have actually sung while bathing in the stream? Truly this is a discovery that will shake the scientific community," Jarod sighed.

"I've found an ancient cave around this area," Erik said, "There are several strange carvings in the cave, but that is not all! You see I'm feeling a warm up draft from the cave! There has to be something else in there! Do you think you could help me?"

I nodded, "Of course we could help."

Jarod smiled, "Now this is the stuff I like!"

Tess looked a little nervous as we followed Erik along a well cleared path and up a mountain. We reached the cave as Erik and I pulled out our flashlights and lit the way. We scanned the walls and much to my surprise several strange paintings had adorned the cave's interior. I took a particular interest in one. The painting looked like a stick figure facing a group of what I believed were Pokemon on his right side. The stick figure had several lines coming out of the right side of his face, probably indicating that he was speaking to the Pokemon. I wanted to investigate more into it, but it seemed like the rest of the painting had either been eroded or had been scraped off. My attention focuses back on Erik who was several feet in front of me. Quickly catching up to him, he and I stood at the back of the cave. I could feel a warm up draft coming from behind the wall we were staring at right now. I noticed several strange texts in the center of the wall.

"I've been able to figure out what this text means," Erik said as he noticed what I was looking at, "It says, only he can open the way. I have yet to find out who he is though."

"So you dragged us into a cave just so we could stare at a wall," Jarod sighed, "This is why you're not a well-respected member of the archaeological community."

"Do you have any ideas?" Erik inquired, "Because you sure talk like you know so much more than me."

"We blow it up," Jarod said, "Explosions solve everything!"

Erik sighed, "We're not damaging a find like this with explosives."

"Of course we can! It's not like anyone else is going to come here!" Jarod snapped.

"Only he can open the way," I muttered in hopes that it would help me figure out some way to open the door. All of a sudden, the words began to glow as they formed into what looked like a hand print. Erik, Jarod, and Tess stared at me in awe as I put my hand around the newly formed words. The wall clicked and slowly sank into the ground.

"Who'd have thought that Jesse could actually open an ancient door," Jarod said.

The four of us walked past the door onto what looked like a ramp. The door closed behind us as we heard another click, followed by the sound of something rolling. Not two seconds later, a giant boulder was seen rolling towards us.

"Run!" Erik exclaimed as we bolted like there was no tomorrow. We ran several feet before turning a corner.

"I wish we'd never gone here!" Tess exclaimed.

"Come on," Jared smirked, "It is times like this that make you appreciate life a lot more!"

"I couldn't agree more," Erik said.

I turned around and looked at the boulder, surely there had to be a way to stop it. I quickly formulated and idea and sent out Douglas, "Can you break that rock?" I asked him. Douglas nodded and tried to punch the rock, unfortunately, the rock didn't budge. I recalled Douglas as Erik pointed to what looked like a passage that took us out of the way of the rock.

"In there!" He exclaimed as we jumped into the passage. The rock rolled right by us and we all decided to walk down the passage. Nothing this place could throw at us could be worse than a giant boulder that could have crushed us. The four of us soon came to a room with a puzzle on the wall. Erik spoke up, "Fascinating, these are the same kinds of puzzles as the ones found in the ruins of Alf; I suggest we solve the puzzle. It could open a door for us."

"I've never been good at puzzles," Jarod sighed and went up to the wall, "You think you all could help me?"

"Yeah," We replied and went over to the door. Each of us took on quadrant of the puzzle to solve. Erik and I easily finished ours as Tess and Jarod struggled a bit. Tess was second to finish as Jarod took another thirty minutes to solve his puzzle.

"It's not that hard Jarod," I sighed.

"Then you try it!" Jarod grumbled as he put the finishing touches on his puzzle, "There I got it!"

We looked at the puzzle. It seemed to be a picture of a Shieldon. There were a few more clicks and the wall in which the puzzle was situated on disappeared. We looked at each other and decided to walk through. As we went down yet another slope, we saw what looked like jungle plants growing along the path. Erik seemed to instantly get excited before he barreled down the ramp with a camera in hand. We weren't far behind him as we came to what looked like a jungle. An Aerodactyl flew over our heads as we noticed several Anoriths hanging out by a small pond that surrounded a small shrine. Erik and Jarod began to talk to one another as I made my way towards the monument. The shrine looked like a platform with a small stone roof on it surrounding the statue of a man with an expression-less face. Next to him was a Growlithe sitting down and staring into the distance. I went over to the rock and ran my hand across it. The stone statue began to rumble as it stood up.

"Interesting that I would take the form of a boy," The statue said, "Then again, this boy is destined for great things."

"It is obvious," The Growlithe statue said, "I mean he is you."

"Thank you for the compliment Mark," The statue said to Growlithe, "Let's hope he's ready for the trials to come." With that the statue sat down as I looked at it.

"Hello? Hey! Why did you get up? What do you mean I'm you?" I exclaimed and ran my hand across the statue again; hoping to activate it, "Answer me!"

There was a long silence, as if the statue was saying no. I sighed and went back to the group.

"Hey Jesse," Jarod said, "You seemed to have slipped off! Where were you?"

"I was just checking something out," I said.

"Great! Convince Erik to build some kind of hotel here!" Jarod exclaimed.

"We're not going to build a hotel here," Erik said, "This discovery belongs to the museum!"

"What the museum doesn't know won't hurt them!" Jarod exclaimed, "Besides, Erik could use the extra cash!"

"Jarod, no," I said, "We're not building a museum here."

"Aw fine," Jarod sighed and looked at Erik, "Let's go."

"You don't want to catch any Pokemon?" Tess asked Jarod and Me,

"Nah," Jarod said, "Besides we can always come back here, we have Jesse!"

"True," Tess said, "Okay guys, let's get out of here."

The four of us made our way out of the cave; thankfully the doors that were previously closed had been opened.

When we made our way out Erik look at us, "I suppose this is where we part ways?"

I nodded, "Yep, it was fun going on this adventure with you."

Erik tipped his hat, "Likewise," He replied.

"I hope we get to do more adventuring in the future!" Jarod exclaimed. With that, we left Erik to his own devices. I began think long and hard on what the statue said, perhaps he was giving me encouragement for the trails that would be fall me on my journey to climb one more step up the ladder.


	18. Chapter 18

One More Step Up the Ladder 18

Jarod, Tess, and I found ourselves back on the path to Ecruteak City, The place where the next gym would be. We happened to be walking along a well paved path with a white picket fence surrounding the edges.

"You know this place it pretty nice," Tess said, "It just makes you want to stop and relax."

"Yeah," Jarod replied, "Especially since we almost got killed while helping that Erik guy in the cave."

"How were we supposed to know there would be traps there?" I said.

"We weren't," Jarod replied.

I shrugged and looked ahead of us; leaning on the fence was a boy with curly brown hair. His black T-shirt seemed to reflect the suns light, while his white cargo pants looked baggier than ever.

"Brendan?" I inquired to the boy, who instantly perked his head up.

"Hey Jesse," The boy said and waved to me, "You got here just in time!"

Jarod looked at the boy, "You're the dude who Jesse helped at the Slowpoke well!"

"Indeed I am," Brendan said.

"What's going on?" I asked Brendan.

"The Pokemon in this area are becoming sick, I'm trying to find out the why," Brendan said.

"Do you think Team Rocket could be behind this?" I asked him.

"Possibly," Brendan said, "But I'll need more proof."

"Then let's find some more proof," Jarod exclaimed, "Come on Jesse!"

"There are two areas that I'll need people to cover," Brendan said, "One on the right side of the path and one of the left side of the path."

"Tess and I will go left!" Jarod stated, "I can't stand walking with Jesse."

Brendan had a perplexed look on his face, "But you just said," Jarod interrupted him, "I changed my mind!" With that Jarod grabbed Tess and went over to the left side. Brendan sighed, "I guess that leaves you and me to go right, huh?"

I nodded, "Yep, let's go."

Brendan and I hopped over the fence.

"So why are you looking into a case like this?" I asked Brendan.

"I can't let things like this happen to Pokemon," Brendan said, "And if Team Rocket is behind this I wouldn't mind exposing how wicked they are."

"That is a cause I can get behind!" I exclaimed.

"Glad to know I have some support," Brendan said, "It seems like everyone else thinks that Team Rocket disbanded some time ago."

"I can tell them they're wrong," I said, "Of course that might not matter in the end."

Brendan smiled, "You can still try."

Brendan and I approached what looked like a small stream. Brendan looked at the water which was green colored.

"Something is wrong here," Brendan said and sent out a Dewott.

"Your Oshawott evolved?" I asked him, he nodded, "Congrats!"

"Thanks," Brendan said, "Dewott see if there is anything wrong with this water."

"Yes sir!" Dewott responded in a language only I could understand. Dewott sniffed the lake and cringed, "Sir, this water is poisoned. We need to find the source of this stream! Follow me!" Dewott ran further upstream. Brendan and I weren't too far behind. When Dewott stopped at what looked like a small spring, we could easily see that a Koffing was strapped down like some kind of buoy that gave off poisonous gas.

"Who would do something like this?" Brendan exclaimed as he took out a small pocket knife, "Don't worry, I'll have you out in a jiffy Koffing!" Brendan jumped into the spring. I could tell that he was struggling to get the Koffing out while not taking in the water. After a few good tries, Koffing began to float away with the rope not even touching it. Brendan resurfaced for the third and final time before climbing out of the spring, "I don't think Koffing's normally tie themselves like that!"

"That obviously means someone is behind it," I said, "And the only people who would actually do that to a Pokemon would be Team Rocket!"

Brendan looked down the lake, "Wait a second! This is one of the streams that feeds into the river that people from Goldenrod get their water from!"

"Then let's go report this," I said.

"The people of Goldenrod need to know!" Brendan exclaimed.

"Actually," A male voice said, "I don't think they do!"

A second later, a Rocket grunt made his way out of the bushes while a female Rocket grunt came down from a tree."

"Because my Rattatta and I are going to stop you," The Rocket grunt snapped as he pointed at Brendan.

"Joey," The female grunt said, "You need to catch another Pokemon besides that Rattatta."

"No way," The man exclaimed, "My Rattatta could beat the elite four!"

The girl's palm hit her face as she took out a Pokeball, "Let's just battle them!"

Brendan smiled and sent out a Snivy, I sent out Douglas. The male rocket grunt sent out a Rattatta while the other sent out a Slowpoke.

"Good," Douglas said, "Another opportunity to train."

"Rattatta, use Super Fang on Snivy!" Joey, the male rocket Grunt, ordered.

"Slowpoke use Psychic on Riolu," The female Rocket grunt commanded.

Rattatta ran towards Snivy and leapt bearing it fangs. Rattatta tried to bite Snivy, but it only ended up tasting dirt as Snivy nimbly hopped out of the way. Slowpoke sent out a blast of psychic energy at Douglas who help his head in pain, but not before holding out his palm to send a Force Palm at Rattatta, the attack made contact but the purple rat didn't seem like it was hurt that much. Snivy jumped in the air and began to spin towards Slowpoke, its body completely enveloped in tornado of leaves. The attack hit its target as it sent Slowpoke careening into some kind of tree. The next round of combat started when Douglas jumped into the air, did a little flip and flew towards Rattatta with a leg covered in blazing hot fire. Rattatta hopped out of the way and bit Douglas with a power I had not expected from a Rattatta. Douglas cringed as Slowpoke attempted to hit him with a Zen Headbutt. Snivy jumped in the way just in time and whipped Slowpoke with a few vines.

"You can thank me later," Snivy remarked before running towards Slowpoke. Douglas began to tighten his focus, but Rattatta bit him again. He flinched while Slowpoke sent another Psychic attack at him. This time, it almost knocked my Riolu out. Snivy sighed and began to drain Slowpoke of its energy. Slowpoke growled and Zen Headbutting Snivy. Brendan's Pokemon flew backwards at Douglas used Dark Pulse. A black wave of dark thoughts shot from his body and hit Slowpoke. This wasn't enough to knock the Pokemon out though, as it sent a psychic attack at Douglas and knocked him out.

I've been battling with Douglas too much, I thought, He's going to need a good long break. I sent out Charlotte next.

"Rattatta use Crunch on Munna," Joey ordered.

Crap! I thought. Charlotte remained calm as she put Rattatta to sleep with Hypnosis. Slowpoke had turned its attention to Snivy now as it tried to focus on Brendan's Pokemon. Fortunately for Brendan, Charlotte used energy ball and knocked the Slowpoke out. The Rocket grunt then sent out a Golbat.

Brendan looked at me a sighed, "I'll send out another Pokemon," He recalled his Snivy and sent out a Swinub.

"Swinub, use Icy Wind on Golbat!" Brendan exclaimed. I ordered Charlotte to hit Golbat with a Psybeam seeing as Rattatta was too busy dreaming about cheese or something to wake up. No matter how many times Joey called its name. Swinub sent a small wind that could freeze even Entei. The cold wind enveloped Golbat and caused it to shiver for a few seconds and take massive damage right before Charlotte's psybeam hit it square in the face. Golbat shook its head and flew into the air, its wings glowed brightly as it swooped down toward Charolette and hit my Pokemon with power equal to that of a thrown boulder. Charlotte shook her head and looked at Joey's Rattatta, she had a hungry look in her eye as she floated over and began to crunch on something invisible. Golbat looked at Charlotte and noticed that this was an opportune time to strike. It flew towards Charlotte and tried to sink its teeth into her soft hide. Swinub sent a quick shard of ice at Golbat. The shard burrowed its way into Golbat's skin and caused the thing to cry out in pain. Charlotte looked up and flew out of the way. By this time, Rattatta woke up and tried to bite Charlotte. Unfortunately for the Rattata, my Munna swerved out of the way and the Rattatta tasted dirt for a second time. Golbat looked at Swinub with the burning fire of hate in its eyes. The next second it tried to sink its teeth into the skin of Brendan's Pokemon. Swinub countered by sending what looked like a powdery snow from its body towards Golbat. This wind was enough to freeze Golbat into an icicle. Swinub gave a small smile as if to say, take that! Charlotte sent another psybeam at the Golbat and sent it into the ground. Rattatta leapt forward and crunched Charlotte between its teeth. Charlotte squirmed a bit as Swinub shot an icy shard at Rattatta. This attack caused Rattatta to stagger, giving Charlotte enough time to hit it with an energy ball. Rattatta flipped backwards before skidding on the ground a few times. When the dust cleared, Rattatta was knocked out.

The female Rocket grunt sighed, "Joey, this is why you should carry more than one Pokemon."

"Don't you dare question to power of my Rattatta!" Joey exclaimed, "Ratt atta, get up!" Rattatta stayed on the ground, "Come on Rattatta! Get up!" Rattatta didn't move, "I know you can do it! Get up!"

Brendan sighed, "It's knocked out Joey, now if you two are out of Pokemon I would suggest that you two leave."

Joey growled and recalled his Rattatta, "Never!"

Brendan took out a Pokegear, "Hello Officer Jenny? I've discovered the reason the Pokemon outside Goldenrod were being poisoned. I also need you to make an arrest."

"What!" Joey exclaimed, "Come on! Let's get out of here!" The two Rocket grunts scrambled off.

I sighed, "You shouldn't have let them get away!"

Brendan smiled, "I'm already tracking them. They're eventually going to lead me to the Team Rocket base."

I shrugged, "I suppose you know best."

Brendan smiled, "Maybe then the Police Academy might accept me."

"Possibly," I said, "It was fun battling alongside you," with that we shook hands.

"We need to find Jarod and Tess," Brendan said. I agreed. Brendan and I looked at each other, I knew Brendan's journey to destroy Team Rocket was going to be a tough one, but I was going to help him while I went on my journey to climb one more step up the ladder.


	19. Chapter 19

One More Step Up the Ladder 19

Brendan and I looked at each other as we tried to find Jarod and Tess.

"So why do you want to join the Police academy?" I asked Brendan.

Brendan smiled, "I've always been one to enforce the law. Besides, it's something my dad would want me to do."

I nodded, "Best of luck in joining the Police Academy."

"Thanks," Brendan said, "But I have a question for you, what is your ultimate goal in life?"

"To be a Pokemon master!" I exclaimed.

Brendan nodded, "And why do you want to be one?"

I froze, "Well, I really don't know why I would want to be one. I just think the title sounds cool."

"From what I hear being regarded as a Pokemon Master isn't all it's cracked up to be," Brendan said.

I laughed, "Really now? And I suppose Ash Ketchum doesn't have T.V. crew following him everywhere because people don't regard people who are Pokemon Masters!"

Brendan shrugged, "He's just one of the lucky cases."

All of a sudden, a hyper beam shot right past us.

"Scared you guys didn't I!" Jarod laughed as he and his Slaking walked into our field of view.

"You almost got us killed!" I exclaimed.

"Sometimes you've gotta live on the edge," Jarod smiled as Tess walked behind him and gave him a small smack on the back of the head.

"Don't you ever do that again," Tess growled.

"Who are you?" Jarod asked, "My mother?"

"Anyways," I said, "Did you guys find anything?"

"We didn't find anything too suspicious," Tess said.

"But I did beat the crap out of a trainer!" Jarod exclaimed, "What about you guys?"

"We just defeated two Rocket grunts and found out that they were poisoning a stream," Brendan said, "I'll go and report this to the Goldenrod City Police. You guys can continue on ahead."

"Alright Brendan," I said, "It was fun!"

With that, Brendan and I parted ways. The rest of the way I began to think on what that stone statue had said. You are me; prepare for the trails ahead, all the typical stuff you hear in movies and what not. The question was why did the statue say that to me? Because the hero in the movies normally has some kind of special power or great destiny, I knew I could understand Pokemon, but did I have a great destiny? I shrugged and looked at Jarod. He was staring off into space as usual. I wonder if he'd caught on that I could talk to Pokemon. The rest of the day I began to ponder lots of things, like my purpose, why things were the way they were, and why do round pizzas come in a square box? That night I sat down and looked at the stars. Douglas, who I had let out in order to get rest, came over to me.

"Is something on your mind Jesse?" He asked me.

I nodded, "Yeah, I've just been thinking about a lot of things."

"Meditation normally helps me clear my mind of thoughts and helps me relax, maybe you could try it," Douglas suggested and sat down. His eyes closed as I decided to try out his advice. My body began to feel light as it was transported to another plane of existence.

"I don't think this is what is supposed to happen!" I exclaimed before I appeared above the world. I could see everything, from Twist Mountain in Unova to the Viridian Forest in Kanto. I took a deep breath and focused on the spot where my body was sitting, completely motionless. I decided to take this time to get a bird's eye view of the area. I noticed something that was strange, Mike was sitting by the lake, talking to his Carvannah.

"I don't get it," Mike said, "How can Team Rocket constantly hurt Pokemon like this? First we cut off Slowpoke tails, then they try and smoke out that Zorua, and now they almost drown a Koffing," Mike glared at his Pokemon in the water, "They've gone too far! And that is saying something," Mike stood up, "I joined Team Rocket in order to steal and get money, not harm Pokemon on a daily basis!"

Carvannah nodded, "I was wondering why you join them instead of going with that small time gang."

Mike looked at the stars, "Now Team Rocket's plans are bordering on the edge of insanity! How could anybody think that the plan is a good idea! No, I can't let them harm any Pokemon!" with that, Mike stood up and ripped off his Team Rocket shirt, "From now on I quit Team Rocket!" Mike exclaimed, "But if I'm going to hold up against Team Rocket I'm going to need more Pokemon," He thought for a second, "Yes! I've got an idea! How about we catch a Numel! That would come in handy!"

"Great idea," Carvannah exclaimed.

Mike didn't understand what Carvannah said but I bet he figured out that his Pokemon liked the idea. He continued, "But where could we find one of those. They certainly aren't common around here. I know, we could go to Burned Tower!" with that, Mike stood up and began to walk.

"I wonder what Jesse will think if I tell him I quit Team Rocket," Mike said to himself, "Eh, he wouldn't care. I mean I was kind of the reason he set out on his Pokemon Journey at the age of twelve," Mike sighed, "Eh, it would be worth a shot. Not until I catch a Numel though!" Mike walked for several minutes until he reached Ecruteak City. The city was beautiful at night, with several of the ancient looking buildings lit up like any of the other cities. Heck you could hardly tell that the buildings had been there since humans first settled in that area. Mike didn't seem to care though. He trudged past the streets of people and looked up at the gym.

"Tomorrow, I'm going to challenge this place and win," He said, "Just like I have with the other gyms."

An odd look spread on my face, Mike was a Pokemon Trainer? Since when? I would have to ask him sometime after this weird meditation thing was over. Mike scooted past several girls in Kimonos as well as a man with blonde hair. As he made his way out of the city he noticed a tower that was smoldering. The burned walls and various debris scatter about blended in to the night and Mike knew that he would have to watch where he stepped. Or else he was probably going to end up with a burned foot.

"Going somewhere Mike?" A male voice said, all of a sudden a man in a Rocket uniform with long blue hair that stuck out like some kind of antler walked toward my rival.

"Admin Seymour! I didn't notice that you were here!" Mike smiled.

"Oh, I was just making sure that you attended our little party at the Kimono girl's theatre tomorrow," The Rocket Admin smiled, "Because, from what I hear, you were not at Operation Green Stream."

Mike chuckled, "Yeah, I kinda got lost," I could tell he was lying but Seymour couldn't.

"Be sure not to get lost again, Admin Lulu was extremely disappointed that the Operation failed," Seymour said with a devilish sort of tone, "And we don't want Admin Lulu disappointed now, do we?"

"No sir!" Mike exclaimed, "We don't."

"Good," Seymour smiled, "And put a shirt on please."

Mike looked at his chest, "Of course I will, sir!"`

"Good," Seymour smiled and walked off.

"Arrogant snob," Mike grumbled under his breath, "He could stand to use a little less hair gel," He turned around and started heading into the Burned Tower. When he got inside he noticed several Magmars and Koffings had gathered in their own areas. The Magmars looked up at him.

"It's not often you see a trainer around here," One Magmar said to the other, "Do you think he's going to try and capture one of us?"

Another Magmar chimed in, "The better question is, why does he not have a shirt on?"

Mike and his Carvannah made their way through the ruined building until they got to what looked like a small ladder. Mike climbed down to basement floor.

"Help," A voice said, weakly, "Help me."

Mike looked over and saw a Numel who had what looked like a small burn on its leg. Mike, seeing the burn mark too, took out a burn heal and walked towards Numel, who let out a flamethrower.

"Get away from me! A man with black glasses and black clothes similar to yours did this to me! And I'm not letting another human dressed like him touch me!" The Numel exclaimed.

Mike ducked under the attack and growled, "Hey what is this Pokemon's problem!"

Carvannah looked at Mike and went towards Numel, "It's okay, he's not a part of Team Rocket."

"How can you be so sure?" Numel snapped.

"I'm his Pokemon," Carvannah said.

"You're probably just trying to lure me into a false sense of security!"

"If I was, my trainer would have caught you by now. He wants to help you."

"Yeah, if I become his Pokemon! I know you Rocket types!"

"He has quit Team Rocket," Carvannah said, "In fact, he's on a mission to stop Team Rocket!"

"He is?"

"Indeed, if you travel with us you will be part of a monumental undertaking!"

"On one condition, if you're lying to me, you have to help me run away."

Carvannah nodded, "Pokemon's honor."

Mike walked up to Numel and sprayed it with a burn heal before taking out a Pokeball, "I know the gesture isn't much, but will you travel with me?"

Numel nodded and was promptly caught by Mike. Mike turned around and put one foot on the ladder and took a step up. I suddenly awoke to Douglas poking me in the face. All my other Pokemon were surrounding me.

"Jesse, are you okay?" Douglas asked me.

I nodded, "Yeah, I am. I just had a strange out of body experience."

Douglas nodded, "Sometimes meditation does that to you."

I knew he had no clue what I meant but I looked to the sky and sighed, I was happy that Mike had climbed one more step up the ladder.


	20. Chapter 20

One More Step Up the Ladder 20

After the strange experience while I was meditating, I decided to go to sleep on the grass. The hot summer night and cool feel of the grass seemed to lull me to sleep better than anything the tent could throw at me. All my Pokemon were out of their balls and decided to lay on me as I drifted off to sleep. The next morning I awoke as I noticed Emily and Nelly were happily sleeping together on my chest. Trey and Douglas had taken to sleeping on opposite sides propping their backs against my sides. Charlotte seemed to like my leg for some odd reason. I looked at the cute scene and couldn't help but smile. I realized that I had to get up though and that I would disturb everyone from their slumber, which would be rude. Emily was the next one to wake up, about thirty minutes later.

"Hey Jesse, why are you just lying there?" Emily asked me.

"Because I don't want to disturb everyone from their good night's sleep," I said.

"I'll wake'em up," Emily smiled as she went to my backpack and pulled out an Oran Berry. She squeezed the juice onto Trey's head, causing him to squirm around and shot a flamethrower, waking everyone else up instantly, "See I told you I'd get'em up!"

I sighed, "That's not really the way I was hoping you'd use but okay."

"You're okay with that!" Trey exclaimed, "She woke me from one of the best dreams ever!"

Nelly nodded, "Yeah and you almost lit my tail on fire!"

"Blame her!" Trey exclaimed.

Douglas got up and sighed, "Do not blame anyone, it was a simple mistake. Starting an argument like this is only going to lead us to a dead end."

"Wise words Puppyman!" Emily exclaimed.

Douglas sighed as Jarod and Tess came out of their tents to see what all the commotion was. Everyone settled down fairly quick as we ate a hearty breakfast. Next, our sights were set on getting to Ecruteak City and challenging the gym leader. After about an hour or two of walking we arrived in the city I had seen the night before. I kept my mouth closed and I noticed everything I had seen last night during my meditation. Of course it was now mid-morning and the lights in the buildings hadn't been turned on. We made our way to the gym. It looked rather old, like the place had been some warehouse in ages past. Now it had the words gym painted on the top of it and the building had a nice, dark purple coat of paint. I took a deep breath and opened the door. Tess had decided to go shopping as Jarod went with me to the gym. When we walked in, I saw the blonde man Mike had passed the night before. He looked about twenty-three with a blue head band, a blue T-shirt, and blue shorts. The man looked at Jarod and smiled.

"Hey Jarod," The man said, "Are you here for a rematch?"

Jarod laughed, "I've already beaten you twice, Morty, I don't think I need to beat you again," He said, "But my brother here wants to challenge you."

Morty smiled, "You've got some shoes to fill then."

I took out a Pokeball, "Are we going to throw down or what?"

Morty laughed, "You remind me of the kid who came in earlier today. He put up a good fight."

I smiled, "Putting up good fights is what I do."

"Let's hope you hold true to that," Morty said and took out a Pokeball, "Go Lampert!" I sent out Nelly who smiled.

"Alright, time to show this over grown light source how to really shine in battle!" My Luxio cheered.

Lampent and Nelly stared at each other for a few seconds before Lampent sent a glowing white ball of light at Nelly. My Luxio wasn't a fool though; he jumped over the attack and sent a quick jolt of electricity from its body. The attack's speed caught Lampent off guard and caused it to shudder. The next second Morty's Pokemon began to wave its long strips of black in the air. Nelly became entranced by the attack and stared as Lampent continued. A few seconds later, Nelly cringed and shook his head.

"Okay, I did NOT want to know what is under a Cubone's skull!" He exclaimed. After that Nelly seemed a tad bit weaker than he had been before the attack.

"Nelly, Use Bite!" I ordered.

"Lampert, use Inferno!" Morty ordered.

As my Luxio jumped toward the haunted lantern it was engulfed in a blistering tornado of flame. Nelly emerged from the inferno with a burn on his leg and managed to bite Lampent's arm. The ghost Pokemon cringed from the attack as Nelly bit it again, this time, pure electricity flew from his fangs into Lampent's body. When Nelly walked away, I could tell that the Lampent had been paralyzed.

"Nice job Nelly!" I exclaimed.

"I do what I can," Nelly smiled as he strutted back a few feet.

Lampent began to move its arms again. This time, Nelly avoided eye contact with the monster and instead tackled Lampent with a body drenched in electricity. Lampent cringed and tried to send another Inferno at Nelly, but suddenly stopped as electricity coursed through its body. I smiled but saw Nelly was being hurt by the burn he had sustained from the first inferno.

"Nelly, use Shock Wave!" I ordered. Nelly took the chance as sent one last Jolt of electricity at Lampent. The Pokemon was knocked out.

"Alright," Nelly exclaimed, "I did it!" with that he did a flip, unfortunately, his burn sent pain through his body in the middle of the flip and send Nelly crashing to the ground. Nelly had managed to knock himself out.

Jarod cracked up laughing, "My brother's Pokemon aren't the sharpest on the block."

"Be quiet Jarod," I snapped.

Morty chuckled, "Oh don't worry, it's fine," He took out another Pokeball, "Go Misdreavous!"

I began to wonder what Pokemon I could send out next, Charlotte and Douglas weren't the best choice to send out, but I was saving Emily for Morty's final Pokemon. If I sent out Trey now I would have to either send out Douglas or Charlotte later against a stronger Ghost Pokemon. Douglas did know Dark Pulse though, that could help against the next Pokemon. I decided to send out Douglas.

"This will be a good fight," Douglas said.

"A fighting Pokemon," Morty said with a quizzical look on his face, "Okay then, Misdreavous, use Psybeam!"

Wait What! I exclaimed in my head after realizing I had just sent Douglas into a situation he probably shouldn't be in. Misdreavous sent a strange multi-colored beam at Douglas, who sidestepped out of the attack and jumped into the air. He flew towards Morty's Pokemon with his foot covered in fire. The attack struck Misdrevous and caused it to spin in place for a few seconds before it sent several glowing rocks at Douglas. My Riolu easily punched and kicked through the rocks before flying towards Misdreavous and sending out a pulse of dark thoughts. Morty's Pokemon shuttered as it was sent into the wall of the gym.

"I'll admit that was pretty cool," Jarod said as Douglas landed and took a fighting stance. Misdreavous sent another psybeam at Douglas, this time it hit my Pokemon and pushed him a few feet back. Surprisingly, Douglas didn't look to worse for wear. Douglas chuckled and got into a jumping position.

"Are you ready?" Douglas asked Misdreavous.

"What?" Morty's Pokemon asked.

Douglas smiled and ran towards Misdreavous. He then proceeded to bicycle kick Misdreavous with another Blaze kick.

"For that," He smiled as Misdreavous flew a few feet into the air. Misdreavous shook its head and tried to send a ball of shadowy energy at Douglas, who simply reflected it with a dark pulse. The shadow ball hit Misdreavous and sent it into the ceiling. It fell down and was knocked out.

"I'll admit, I underestimated you," Morty said, "However that is a mistake I will not make again," he continued before sending out a Shuppet. I recalled Douglas and sent out Trey.

"Trey, use Flame Burst!" I exclaimed.

"Shuppet use Sucker Punch!" Morty ordered

Shuppet smiled and flew towards Trey as he was charging up a Flame Burst and rammed its head into Trey's stomach. My Charmeleon let out the flame burst earlier but still managed to hit Shuppet, just not as hard as it normally would have. Shuppet snickered and began to charge a ball of shadowy energy.

"Oh you think that's funny huh?" Trey snarled, "Well let's see how you like this!" Trey held his hands in the air as an avalanche of rocks came down from out of nowhere and pummeled Shuppet. The ghost Pokemon sent a shadow ball in a random direction and almost hit Jarod.

"Hey!" Jarod exclaimed, "Watch it! I've got a long life to live you know!"

"Well excuse me princess," Shuppet snapped.

I chuckled, if Jarod knew what Shuppet has said he would have freaked out. Trey jumped forward and sunk his teeth into Shuppet's skin, or well if you would call it skin it is a ghost type after all, with teeth dripping in hot magma. Shuppet cringed as Trey let go of it and dropped to the ground. Shuppet sent another at Trey, this time it hit my Pokemon. Trey shook himself off and sent a tide of flame from his mouth. The flame engulfed Shuppet and when it dissipated there was a pitch black mark on its side. Trey began to charge another flamethrower, this time Shuppet flew behind him and head-butted him again. Trey fell face first onto the ground as his flamethrower pushed him into the air.

Jarod was now on the floor laughing, "I wish I would have recorded this! This would have been a hit on Battletube!"

"I already am recording it," Morty said.

I put my hand on my face, oh great, I thought, everyone is going to see this!

Trey landed on the ground and shot a flamethrower at Jarod, effectively turning my brother's face into a cartoony black. Jarod let out a puff of smoke before hitting the ground, "That is why you do not laugh at me," Trey growled and looked at Shuppet, "As for you, eat a Flame Burst!"

Shuppet smiled and flew towards Trey. This time though, Trey was ready and the second before Shuppet head-butted him, he sent out a burst of flame that knocked out Shuppet. Trey gave a little smile as I recalled him.

"I'm on my last Pokemon already, you're certainly doing better than your brother did his first time here," Morty said and sent out a Gengar. I sent out Emily as she happily bounced up and down.

"Oh look! A ghostie!" Emily smiled, "You're funny!"

Gengar sighed and put his palm on his face, "Kid, you've got a lot to learn."

Gengar then flew towards Emily with a fist covered in black energy and smacked Emily in the face, but she retaliated by sending a Shadow Ball at Gengar. The ghost Pokemon easily deflected the ball and tried to lull Emily to sleep.

My Zorua smiled, "That feels funny!"

"Remember," I said to Morty, "Hypnosis is a psychic type attack."

"Right," Morty said, "Gengar, use Dark Pulse!"

Gengar began to gather dark thoughts and sent the negative energy out from his body. Emily jumped over the attack and used Night Daze. This time, the pulse she sent from her body turned into a bright light. Gengar shook with fear as the attack flew towards him and sent it skidding a few inches back. Gengar recovered from the attack and flew towards Emily as a decent speed before punching her in the face again.

"Oh! You want to play that way huh," Emily growled, "Then dodge this!" Emily yelled and slipped into the shadows.

"You fool!" Gengar laughed, "You think you can use the shadows against me?"

Emily appeared out of nowhere and tackled Gengar and sent it tumbling backwards.

"Yes I can and I just did!" Emily snapped before jumping into the air, "Now to finish you off!" Emily charged a gigantic shadow ball and sent it at Gengar. The Gengar bounced on the ground before it was tackled one final time by Emily. Gengar fell on the floor, knocked out.

"I'll admit, this was a good battle. We need to have a rematch though," Morty smiled, "For now, I present to you the Fog Badge."

Morty gave me a white badge that looked like a speech bubble with two purple quarter circles it.

"Yes!" I exclaimed as I held the badge up into the air, "I got the Fog Badge!" I was happy, I had just climbed one more step up the ladder.


	21. Chapter 21

One More Step Up the Ladder 21

"Alright!" I exclaimed as I helped the pin in the air, "I got the Fog Badge!"

Jarod clapped for me for about two seconds before he looked around, "Can we find Tess and get out of here?"

"Fine," I said, "See ya Morty!" I exclaimed and left the gym. Jarod wasn't too far behind me. I took out my Pokegear and attempted to phone Tess. The Pokegear rang for a few seconds before I got Tess' voice mail, "That makes things a lot more complicated."

"What?" Jarod asked me.

"Tess isn't answering her Pokegear," I said.

"Great," Jarod sighed, "She's probably too busy shopping to answer."

I thought for a second, "Then let's check the Pokemart," I suggested.

"That should be our first stop anyways," Jarod said, "I need to get some more Max Potions."

I nodded and the two of us made our way to the Pokemart.

"Hey!" Jarod yelled to the entire store, "Has anyone seen our friend?" He asked before he began to describe Tess.

"Oh my gosh! It's Jarod Tanaka!" A girl exclaimed. All of a sudden people began to swarm my brother asking for tips and autographs. I sighed and walked up to the mart counter.

"Have you seen our friend?" I asked the shop keeper."

He nodded, "She came in not too long ago and decided to go to the Kimono Girls show today," The shopkeeper said and pointed to a poster on the wall.

Wait, I thought as I recalled when I had "spied" on Mike during my meditation. The Rocket Admin known as Seymour had asked Mike if he would help them rob the Kimono Girls…yesterday. I flew out the door at a lightning fast speed and made my way through the town. I made it to the theatre and opened the door. There, Team Rocket members had people lined against the wall with an Arbok standing guard.

"Now if you would have just handed over your valuables, this wouldn't be so hard," Seymour laughed as he stood on the stage. I took out a Pokeball but Seymour saw me and turned to a familiar face, Mike.

"Mike, Do me a favor and beat this kid for me," Seymour yawned.

Mike looked at me and then at Seymour, I could tell he wanted to fight me, but he also wanted to fight Seymour. I couldn't figure out why he would want to fight his boss, but it would be an interesting battle to see.

"No," Mike finally said.

"Oh Mike, you're so silly," Seymour laughed, "It's not like you have a choice."

"I do and I'm going to fight you,"

"Very well we'll have a battle, but after this I'll be telling the other admins,"

"A battle is no fun if there isn't a friendly wager," Mike grinned devilishly, "I win and you return all the valuables, leave this place, and you don't tell the other admins about this."

"And if I win?" Seymour asked.

"You can take six month's pay from me and I will give you a rare Pokemon,"

"Six month's pay and a rare Pokemon, very well, let's battle."

"Pick two Pokemon," Mike said, "And choose wisely."

Seymour took out two Pokeballs, "Single or Double?"

"Single," Mike said.

"Go! Shroomish!" Seymour exclaimed.

"Come on out Numel!" Mike commanded.

The two Pokemon met face to face and stared at each other for a few seconds. Seymour started off by ordering his Pokemon to use headbutt

"Numel use Flame Burst!" Mike ordered. Numel took a deep breath and sent a strong burst of fire towards Shroomish who barely managed to get out of the way before ramming its head into Numel's body. The camel like pokemon shrugged the attack off and sent an inferno of scarlet colored flames at Shroomish, the moving mushroom didn't get out of the way in time and was sucked up by the firey tornado. When the attack subsided Shroomish spun around for a few seconds as a small burn covered the side of its body. Shroomish looked forward and focused on Numel before it began to try and drain energy from Numel's body. Numel shook for a few seconds but ran towards Shroomish and rammed it head on. Numel's body shook from the recoil and shot another flame burst at Shroomish. Seymour's Pokemon jumped over the attack and headbutted Numel again and sent the camel pokemon stumbling back once again.

"You need to battle better if you hope to win," Seymour said.

"Says the idiot who is using a grass type against a fire type," Mike snapped, "Numel use Flame Burst!" Numel nodded and sent another burst of hot flame at Shroomish, this time the wood that made up the stage almost melted. Shroomish didn't fare better either as it was covered by the flame. When the flame dissipated all you could see on Shroomish was dark black char. Shroomish let out a little puff of smoke and fell to the ground, "Take that!" Mike laughed. The next second, Shroomish got up and drained more health from Numel before sending a seed into Numel's body. The seed began to suck up nutrients from the Pokemon's body. Shroomish now started to look like it was getting better. Mike gnashed his teeth before ordered Numel to Use Take Down. Numel ran at Shroomish again but this time Seymour's Pokemon dodge and Numel ran into the wall. Not only did Numel hit the wall, but it made a huge hole in it.

"It's not nice to destroy other people's property you know," Seymour chuckled.

"What do you know about being nice," Mike growled, "Numel! Use Lava Plume!" Numel obeyed his master's command and sent another scarlet flame tornado at Seymour's Pokemon, whose seeds had drained even more energy from Mike's Pokemon. The energy Shroomish had obtained wasn't enough to save it though, as it was sucked up and spat out again by the tornado of fire. Shroomish spun around and fell to the ground, this time, it was actually knocked out.

"You seem to be doing better than I had expected," Seymour said, trying to hide the fact that he was being beaten by a mere grunt, "Time for our next Pokemon!"

"Right," Mike said and took out a Pokeball, "Go Carvanha!" Seymour sent out a Golbat, but it wasn't like any normal Golbat, instead of it being blue it was a sickly green!

"Golbat use Poison Fang," Seymour ordered.

"Carvanha, use Crunch!" Mike ordered. Golbat swooped down towards Carvanha and attempted to gnaw the fish Pokemon's face. Carvanha swan under Golbat and then bit the Pokemon on the behind. Golbat yelped before it was hit by an Aqua Jet from Carvanha, sending it careening into the stage and leaving a Golbat sized hole. Golbat flew from the hole and sent what looked like a blade made of air at Carvanha. The air swished in Carvanha's face before there was a small shing sound. You could easily see a small scratch under Carvanha's eye as it lurched forward with frozen fang. Mike's Pokemon bit Golbat hard and the sound of crunching bones could be heard throughout the theatre, causing everyone to cringe for a few seconds. I could tell that Golbat's body was now trying its best to keep the Pokemon warm. Unfortunately for Golbat, it didn't dodge Carvanha as the fish sent a power blast of water from its mouth. The water hit like a semi-truck and sent Golbat through the wall of the theatre and into the side of another building! Mike was now grinning with all the confidence he'd had when he'd bullied me two years ago, but that disappeared when Golbat sent a quick, sharp gust of air at Carvanha and knocked it into a column that held the theatre up. Golbat then flew forward and bit Carvanha's face. The rough skin or Carvanha hurt Golbat a little bit but it wasn't going to stop Carvanha from being badly poisoned. Carvanha swayed back and forth for a few seconds before surging towards Golbat with its body covered in water. Golbat flew out of the way this time and hit Carvanha with an Air Slash.

"You seem to be slipping up," Seymour said, "You know you don't have to go easy on me."

Anger flared up in Mike's eyes as he pointed at Golbat, "Carvanha, Ice Fang!" Carvanha nodded and lunged at Golbat for the last time and bit Golbat's wing. The fish Pokemon managed to rip some of the membrane of the wing off and Golbat tumbled to the ground. When the bat hit the ground it was knocked out.

Seymour sighed, "It seems you won, very well, I'll keep my end of the bargain. You of course are free to do whatever. Keep in mind that you are one man going up against an organization."

Mike smiled, "I've fought worse, now get out of here you scum!"

With that Seymour looked at the other Rocket members, "Come on, let's go," The Rocket admin said as they all filed out, one by one. Mike smiled and held a Pokeball in the air.

"Yeah! Take that Seymour!" Mike exclaimed.

I sighed but smiled, it's a good thing Mike was having a fun time climbing one more step up the ladder.


	22. Chapter 22

For the purposes of I have to inform you that Diana is an OC of Pohlrand3 on Devaintart

One More Step Up the Ladder 22

I looked at Mike who had just defeated the Rocket Admin Seymour and pretty much stopped Team Rocket from robbing the Kimono Girls theatre. He looked at me and gave me a harsh look.

"What, you didn't think I could beat him?" Mike snapped, "Psh! I'm not weak!" with that Mike walked out of the theatre. Tess ran up to me and hugged me.

"I knew you'd come!" She exclaimed.

I blushed; I had no idea what to say so I just changed the subject, "Look we need to get out of here as quick as possible."

"Why can't we just stay at a hotel?" Tess asked.

"Jarod is being swarmed by fans at the moment," I replied, "If we know what is good for us and him we need to get out of here as soon as possible."

Tess sighed, "Okay."

I looked outside and saw that Jarod had just managed to make it to the theatre and he was being swarmed by hive mind of fans.

"Jarod you missed it," I said, "Mike beat a Rocket Admin."

"You mean that kid who teased you all the time but couldn't do crap?" Jarod asked me, "Interesting," he continued, "but we have more pressing matters to attend to, like getting out of here before I get trampled to death!"

"Good idea," I said, "are we going to make a break for it?"

Jarod nodded, "On the count of three…one, two, three!" Jarod exclaimed as we ran as fast as we could away from the fans. We turned corner after corner but they seemed to be following us. Heck, we even tried to put on fake glasses and pose as other people! That didn't work as well as we had planned but we finally came to the plains that would eventually lead us to Olivine. After a few more minutes of running we came to a small pond, "Okay," Jarod panted, "We need to take a breather!"

"I'll say!" I exclaimed, "I haven't had that much of a work out in a long time!" Tess nodded in agreement.

"Say," Jarod said and sat down by the lake, "Why don't we take in the view for a little bit," Tess and I sat down as Jarod began to talk, "You know, I met this interesting person while I was spending time with my fans, her name was Diana I believe," Jarod paused, "Surprisingly she showed more interest in challenging you, Jesse, more than she did me."

"I wonder why that is," I asked myself.

"Maybe she thinks you're cute," Tess chuckled.

I laughed and looked at Jarod, "I could use a good work out after the Ecruteak Gym battle."

"You mean you want to fight her?" Jarod asked me, "Okay then, I'll call her and tell her you want to battle."

I nodded, "Sounds good," I said and sent out my Pokemon, "Alright guys, we're going to be battling again in a bit, so I want you all to relax while you can."

Nelly shook his head up and down, "And I'm not going to flip if I win this time."

"Yeah Nelly, that was pretty stupid," Trey said, "Then again, you are stupid."

Nelly shocked Trey and smiled, "Next time it will be even worse."

Trey shook his head and got ready to attack Nelly.

"Remember what Jesse said, we are to relax," Douglas pointed out, "We do not want to wear ourselves thin before the battle."

I looked at Jarod, "Can you tell me anything about Diana, like Pokemon I should be expecting or strategies she employs?"

Jarod looked at me with a you've got to be kidding me look, "I hardly know the girl and you expect me to tell you what her party was and her strategies?"

I thought for a second, "Yep."

Jarod sighed, "I can't."

"Very well," I said, "Did she look like she had seen a lot of combat?"

Jarod shrugged, "She'd mentioned that she was going to go out and earn more badges," he said, "I believe that she said she'd just earned the Plain Badge."

"Okay," I said before thinking, Alright so she has about the same experience as me. This will be fun. After that I looked over to see Nelly, Emily, and Charlotte playing tag, while Douglas was once again meditating. Trey was looking on the lake however, no doubt thinking of how to get Nelly back. I smiled, it was a typical day in the life of a trainer and I wouldn't want it any other way.

After about an hour, a girl with an unbuttoned light purple sweater, a whitish pink undershirt, tight blue jeans and blue-purple shoes came onto the scene. Her golden hair sparkled in the sun as I could easily see her bangs had red highlights.

"You must be Diana," I said.

"And you must be Jesse," She replied.

"Before we get this battle underway I'm curious, how did you find out about me?" I asked her. "My friend Roger told me about you and about how you were great at battling, so I decided I was going to fight you to see if what he said was true," Diana said.

I smiled and took out a Pokeball, "Roger huh, yeah he's a great guy and if it's a battle you want it's a battle you'll get!"

"I was hoping you'd say that," Diana smiled, "Best three out of five?"

"Best three out of five," I said, "Send out your first Pokemon."

"Go Soul!" The girl exclaimed and sent out a Lapras.

"Nelly, show this water type what you're made of!" I exclaimed. Nelly's ears perked up and he ran at my side. He quickly took note of the scar on the Lapras' right eye.

"You have a scar," Nelly stated, "You must have been through a tough battle! Good, I like my opponents to be experienced!"

"Is that bravado or confidence," The Lapras smiled, "We'll soon find out."

"I like to think of it as a mix of both," Nelly smiled and charged at Soul with fangs surging electricity. Soul fired a rime-chilled cyan beam at Nelly, who nimbly ducked under it before biting Soul on the neck. Nelly let go as Soul sent a beautifully rainbow colored beam at Nelly, "Geez what is it with you and beams," Nelly said, "Don't tell me that you're secretly a mad scientists dooms day device!"

Soul seemed perplexed as to what Nelly said which gave my Pokemon ample time to tackle Soul with a static-charged tackle. As the sparks flew Soul sent a Hydro Pump at Nelly, effectively nailing him to a nearby tree. Nelly struggled under the pressure but grabbed a stick with his tail and flung it in another direction.

"Do you think you can fool me?" Soul smiled.

"Possibly," Nelly laughed as the Hydro Pump kept him pinned. All of a sudden Trey jumped out of the bush and shot fire into the air.

"Alright who the heck hit me with a stick," Trey exclaimed. Soul looked over for a split second and caused her hydro pump to hit Trey. Nelly smiled and sent a quick blast of electric zooming towards soul. The attack made contact and caused Soul to shudder for a second. Nelly chuckled at the chaos he'd caused as Soul turned her attention back to Nelly and sent what looked like several small stars at him. Nelly tried to dodge them, but they hit him and scratched him up. A smirk came onto Nelly's face as he ran towards the pond.

"Hey. Come get me!" He exclaimed before he jumped in the water. Soul shot an ice beam at the pond and caused it to freeze up. Nelly slammed his head right onto the ice and growled, "A wise guy huh? Well riddle me this! The following statement is true, the previous statement was false!" "That's a paradox," Soul said, "It is impossible to figure that," The Lapras was interrupted by Nelly tackling her with all his might. More electricity flew from Nelly's body and into Soul who did look like she was doing well. Of course, Nelly wasn't looking that much better. Soul sent an ice beam at Nelly who countered by barely rolling out of the way and sending another Shock Wave. Soul shook for a second before sending another swift attack that hit Nelly and almost caused him the faint.

"So you want to play that way huh?" Nelly chuckled weakly and charged at Soul, who sent an ice beam at him. Nelly once again hopped over the attack and bit his foe's neck. There was another surged of electricity through Soul's body before it hit the ground knocked out. Nelly took a deep breath by fell over as well. Both of us recalled our Pokemon and sent out some more.

"Go, Biterz!" Diana exclaimed as she sent out a Totodile.

She has two of the same type of Pokemon, I thought, that's a weakness I can exploit. I then sent out Charlotte. I ordered Charlotte to use Psybeam while Biterz was ordered to us Water gun. The two attacks flew right past each other and hit their intended targets. Both of the battling Pokemon staggered before Biterz charged at Charlotte. My Munna's first reaction was to send Psybeam after Psybeam at Biterz, but the Totodile simply jumped out of the way every time.

"Is that they best you've got?" Biterz laughed and jumped forward, ramming his skull into Charlotte's head Charlotte cringed in pain as Biterz sent a water gun at her. Charlotte quickly opened her eyes and let an Energy ball fly. The Energy ball cut through the water gun like a hot knife through butter and slammed into Biterz, sending him right into a tree, "Okay, maybe I shouldn't have said that," Biterz said as he hit the ground. The Totodile jumped up and scratched Charlotte on the face. My Munna didn't seem to mind as much as Emily would have. I guess that is the beauty of being shy? I have no clue but I ordered my Pokemon to use Hypnosis. Biterz easily jumped out of the way and ran towards my Pokemon again. This time, the Totodile was getting ready to ram its head into Charlotte's skull. Fortunately for Charlotte, she was easily able to avoid the attack and hit Biterz with hypnosis. The Totodile began to stagger before finally hitting the ground and falling asleep.

"Come on Biterz, wake up!" Diana yelled. Biterz stirred in his sleep as Charlotte flew over and began munching on something above his head. The Totodile stirred as its dream was being devoured. When Charlotte stopped eating, Biterz collapsed, "Well I tried," Diana sighed and recalled her Pokemon, "Come on out Gold!" She said and sent out a Bayleaf. I looked around; would I send out Trey and have the type advantage? Or should I got a little easier on her and send out Emily or Douglas? I took out a Pokeball and threw it as Emily was summoned to the field.

"Gold, use Razor leaf," Diana ordered.

"Emily use Fury Swipes!" I commanded. Diana's Bayleaf sent several sharp leaves at Emily, who giggled as she hopped out of the way. Emily then went up to the Bayleaf and swiped at it once. Twice. Three times. Three times she swiped at the Bayleaf before she was smack to the side with a vine whip.

I would tell Emily was starting to get a little angry. Emily began to charge a Shadow Ball and sent it toward's Bayleaf, who side stepped out of the way.

"No one does that," Emily growled under her breath before sending a dark pulse from her body. The pulse then turned into what looked like a big Team Rocket symbol and flew towards Gold. Bayleaf was stunned and didn't even consider getting out of the way in time. The attack scored a critical hit as it sent Gold skidding across the ground. The Bayleaf got up and smacked Emily across the face with one of its vines. My Zorua cringed for a second before sinking into the shadows. Gold looked around in a tiny bit of panic before Emily came out of nowhere and tackled it. Of course, Gold sent several razor sharp leaves at Emily. The leaves made contact and made several cuts on Emily's skin, "Do you know how long I spent grooming this!" Emily roared, "That's it! It's on now!" Emily lurched towards Gold who whacked her to the side. Emily was now snarling louder than ever, "I'm going to kill you!" She yipped before once again lunging at Bayleef. Emily slashed Gold several times before Gold hit Emily with a Razor leaf but fainted soon afterwards.

"No one ever messes with my fur," Emily barked as I recalled her.

"Sorry about that," I said, "Emily kinda has anger issues when she gets hurt."

"Oh it's fine," Diana said, trying to hold back some kind of anger.

I took out my Pokegear and asked her if she would give me her number. After a quick exchange of phone numbers, Diana walked away. I let out a sigh of relief, but I hoped that I would meet that trainer again on my journey to climb one more step up the ladder.


	23. Chapter 23

One More Step Up the Ladder 23

As Diana walked away I began to look around, the sun was already setting! Jarod, Tess, and I decided to set up camp for the night. Everyone helped, excluding Douglas, who was now staring out into the forest. We began to cook some food, Douglas never even flinched. We called to him, nothing.

"Alright," Nelly said, "Something is wrong with him, that or he's trying to hide something from us."

"Then go talk to him," Trey said sarcastically, "I'm sure he'll listen to you."

"At least I have a better chance than you," Nelly smirked as he walked over to Douglas. I decided to come with Nelly, I mean, isn't it a trainers duty to make sure his Pokemon are in peak physical and mental condition? Nelly and I walked over to Douglas, "Hey man, what's wrong?" Nelly asked him.

Douglas seemingly snapped out of a trace, "What? Oh, Hi Nelly."

"Dude, you've been staring out into this forest for at least five hours now, there has got to be something wrong!" Nelly exclaimed.

Douglas looked at me and then at Nelly, "I remember this place. Two years ago, I trained here under my master, a Lucario named Blanz."

"Blanz huh," Nelly said, "Can't say I know about him."

"You probably don't," Douglas said.

"What is he, some kind of hipster sensation," Nelly joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"I left my master because I was convinced that there was no way I could become better," Douglas continued, "He encouraged me to go out into the world and find something that could," Douglas said, "And since he was my master there was no point in denying his request."

"So let me get this straight," Nelly said, "You trained around here with a Lucario then left because you thought you were as strong as you possibly could be?"

Douglas nodded, "But I was wrong, traveling with Jesse has taught me so many more things and I believe I have become stronger," Douglas said, "But I hope my master will forgive me for being a trainer's Pokemon."

"Does he have something against it?" I asked him.

"No, but he told me he had no trainer. Seeing that he was strong I figured that being with a trainer would only hurt me," Douglas said.

"Boy were you wrong," Nelly laughed.

Douglas gave a slight nod, "Perhaps my Master is still out here, somewhere."

"Let's go find him!" Nelly exclaimed.

"He would be hard to find,"

"The harder he is the better!" Nelly laughed as he jumped up and down, "Come on! Let's go!"

Nelly walked off into the forest as Douglas and I looked at each other.

"There is no turning back now," I smiled as Douglas nodded. The two of us ran into the forest and followed closely behind Nelly.

"Nelly, let me lead the way," Douglas said, "I remember some of our haunts and how we got there."

"Lead the way puppyman," Nelly chuckled.

Douglas was about to slug Nelly in the face but chuckled too. The three of us now headed deeper into the forest until we came across what looked like a small mountain. After a quick inspection we found a small cave that looked like it had been hand carved.

"Blanz carved this with his own two fists," Douglas said as the three of us made our way inside. I had to crawl and found it mildly uncomfortable. That was until we came to what looked a huge training Dojo. Douglas took a deep breath, "Yes I remember this place."

"Who goes there!" A voice called out, "Douglas?"

"Master Blanz!" Douglas exclaimed and looked towards the sound of the voice. Nelly, Douglas, and I saw a Lucario, but not just any Lucario. It was mainly yellow instead of blue and its normally black spots were a dark blue.

"Douglas, you've returned," The Lucario said, "And you brought a human with you."

"He's my trainer," Douglas said.

Blanz gave me an odd look before cracking a small smile, "You have a trainer huh? Let's find out if he has been training you well, come outside," After the four of us managed to crawl outside, Blanz took a fighting stance, "Show me how much you have learned!" Douglas lunged at Blanz with a leg covered in fire. Blanz blocked the attack and slugged Douglas in the face before he began to charge up a blue ball of energy. Douglas flew back but caught himself just before lunging toward Blanz and hitting him with a force palm. Blanz stumbled back and the ball of energy he was charging disappeared, one thing Douglas had over his master was that he wasn't weak to fighting. Blanz had experience though, and I knew this fight wasn't going to be easy. Douglas and Blanz lunged at each other again, this time they each were using a Blaze kick. Douglas missed his master but Blanz hit his student into the face. Douglas skidded into the ground before quickly hopping onto his feet.

"Come on Douglas! You can do it!" Nelly cheered.

Douglas looked at his master and began to tighten his focus. Blanz took this opportunity to launch another light blue sphere are Douglas. My Riolu ran forward and took the Aura sphere at full blast however my Pokemon emerged from the attack and smacked the shiny Lucario right in the face. Blanz did about three flips before falling face first onto the ground.

"That is one punch," Blanz said and stood up, "I have taught you well," Blanz then jumped in the air and did a little flip before dive kicking Douglas into the ground. Blanz charged another Aura Sphere and shot it at Douglas, who reeled from the two attacks and tried to counter with a Force Palm but Blanz smacked the palm out of the way and round housed Douglas with a foot engulfed in fire. Douglas growled and focused his energy into one attack. Douglas then ran at Blanz and kicked him across the face with a Blaze kick before turning around and force palming Blanz's chest. The Lucario fell down but quickly got up and began to tighten its focus. Douglas did the same right before the two and at each other and punched each other in the jaw. The two Pokemon fell on the ground.

"Get up Douglas!" Nelly exclaimed, "Come on man! Get up!"

Blanz struggled to stay on his feet as Douglas lay there, knocked out. Blanz took out a revive and put it into Douglas' mouth. Douglas stood up.

"You lost," Blanz said.

Douglas clenched his fist, "Then I have not gotten stronger."

Blanz smiled, "Oh really? As I recall you were barely able to land a punch on me the last time we met."

Douglas gave a small smirk, "I owe most of my success to Jesse," He said, "Without him I would have never gotten this strong."

Blanz looked at me and gave me a smile, "It is good to see Douglas has found a good trainer. You should be proud."

"I'm glad I have your approval," I smiled.

"And it is good to see Douglas is making friends as well," Blanz said, "And good ones at that."

"Yes," Douglas said, "I am glad that Jesse is my trainer and I would do just about anything for him," All of a sudden, Douglas began to glow brightly as he changed from a Riolu to a Lucario.

"Good," Blanz smiled, "You have learned my final lesson. That you must rely on others to help you on your journey," He said, "I have nothing left to teach you."

Douglas smiled, "Thank you Master, shall I see you in the future?"

"You have yet to beat me," Blanz smiled.

Douglas turned to me and gave the thumbs up, "Come on! Let's go back to the others."

Nelly and I nodded. We were happy that Douglas had climbed one more step up his own ladder.


	24. Chapter 24

One More Step Up the Ladder 24

Douglas, Nelly, and I were headed back to camp after we had met Douglas' master, A Lucario named Blanz.

"I'm sure Trey is going to be surprised that you evolved," Nelly said, "And Congratulations!"

"Nelly, you've congratulated him four times now," I chuckled, "I think he gets the point."

"I was just making sure!" Nelly exclaimed, "You never know!"

Douglas snickered, "Trust me Nelly, I do."

The three of us got back to camp to see Trey telling some kind of strange fairy tale to Charlotte and Emily.

Emily heard our footsteps and turned around, "Oh thank goodness! We thought the monster got you!"

"What monster?" I asked.

"The one that haunts these plains and preys on people who go astray," Charlotte squealed.

"Relax," Douglas said, "We're fine."

"Puppyman, what happened to you?" Emily asked Douglas.

"I evolved," He said.

Trey let out a puff of smoke, "Just remember, I evolved before you! Therefore I'm higher in the pecking order!"

Douglas smiled, "Okay Trey."

Nelly looked at Douglas, "You're just going to let him say that?"

Douglas shook his head, "You'll have to wait to see where this is going."

"Alright everyone," I said, looking at the starry night sky, "Let's get to bed," I recalled all of my Pokemon and headed into the tent. After what seemed like a few minutes, it was morning and we were ready to start on our journey again.

After breaking up camp, Jarod, Tess, and I began our walk through the plains.

"Where were you last night," Tess asked me; "We were worried sick!"

I smiled lightly, "Oh I was just exploring."

"You were just exploring huh?" Jarod said, "Of course you were."

"What else would I be doing?" I asked my brother.

"A late night training session," Jarod said, "Like how you used to back when you went to Pokemon Trainer's school!"

I chuckled, "Oh trust me, it was nothing like that!"

Jarod gave me a stern look as our path was nearing what looked like a cliff. All of us could see the Olivine City Lighthouse in the distance. I pondered what it looked like at night, I bet it was beautiful. My thoughts were interrupted by a soft cry for help.

"Did you guys hear that?" I asked.

"Hear what?" Jarod replied.

I blinked, "Nothing! It must have just been the wind!"

Jarod shrugged.

"Look," I said, "I think I'm going to go check something out, you guys can continue without me. Meet me near the Olivine lighthouse, okay?"

Jarod looked at Tess, "Okay," He said, "Just don't get lost alright?"

"You got it!" I smiled and headed off into the plains. A few minutes later I came to what looked like a Makuhita lying down in the grass. There was trainer already trying to tend to its wounds. It was John! The trainer who had beaten Jarod in the Ilex Forest!

"There there little guy," John said as he applied a potion to the Pokemon's wounds, "I'm sure you'll be okay."

The Makuhita got up, "I must warn the others of the danger in the hollow!" It said and ran off.

"I wonder what happened to that guy," John asked himself before noticing me, "Oh, hello there Jesse!"

"Hey John," I said, "It looks like you've got everything taken care of over here."

"Yep," John said, "But the Makuhita had wounds similar to the one a Pokemon sustains after being hit by an attack like self-destruct or explosion."

"That's odd," I said, "What would a Pokemon that knows a move like that be doing out here?"

"I don't know," John said, "But it's not good! We've got to investigate it!"

I nodded, "Maybe we should try looking for some kind of hollowed out tree or stump?"

"Why would we look for something like that?" John asked me.

"I just get the feeling that would be where the trouble is."

"Okay," John said after that we set off. We trudged over small hills and made our way through tall grass before coming to a small hollowed out tree. John poked his head in the tree then took it back out, "I was not expecting that!"

"Expecting what?" I asked him.

"There is a nest of Voltorbs in there!" He exclaimed, "One of them looks like it self-destructed!"

"I wonder how they got there," I said, John shrugged and took out a revive.

"I'm going to try and get on their good side," He said and reached into the tree again.

"Those humans are back!" One of the Voltorbs exclaimed, "Shock him! We're not going to let them take us away from Frank!" A second later, several volts shot through John's body, revealing his skeleton in all its bony glory. John collapsed on the ground. Smoke could be seen flying away from his body.

"Are you okay?" I exclaimed.

"Yeah," John said and let out a puff of black smoke, "I'm fine."

"Let me try," I said and took the revive from him. I put my head in the tree.

"Oh great here is the other one!" A Voltorb exclaimed, "Get ready guys!"

"I'm not here to hurt you," I said, "I'm here to help you."

"Oh really?" One of the Voltorbs asked me, "And the reason you stuffed us in here is because?"

"I didn't stuff you in here," I said.

"Wait, did he just understand what we said?" One Voltorb said to the other.

"I think he did," The other Voltorb said, "I didn't know humans could do that!"

"Who stuffed you in here?" I asked them.

"I don't know, all I know is that they were humans and were talking about some "Big Boom"," A Voltorb said, "And if I know anything about explosions it would require us to use self-destruct!"

"Well I'm here to save you from that fate," I said, "Do you know of any safe places nearby?"

"There is a power plant nearby," One of the Voltorbs said, "Our brother helps generate electricity there and would welcome the help."

"Okay," I said and put the revive down, "Get your friend up and let's go to the power plant!" I took my head out of the tree and a few seconds later, several Voltorb came filing out.

"How did you do that?" John asked me.

"I don't know," I laughed, "I think I just got lucky," John gave me an odd look as I continued; "There is a power plant nearby where we can take these guys."

John nodded, "Anything would be better than being cooped up in some kind of hollow."

"Agreed," I said and started walking. John walked with me as well until we came to some power plant. We spied a worker looking over a few things.

"Gosh," The worker said, "At this rate, we're going to need at least four more Voltorbs to help run the generator!"

"I believe we could be of assistance," I said, "I have a few Voltorb here who would love to help you with the generator."

"Right!" One Voltorb exclaimed and jumped up.

The worker looked at me and John like we were some kind of shady businessmen, "How do I know this isn't some kind of Team Rocket trick?"

"What do you mean Team Rocket trick?" I asked.

"Team Rocket came by here not too long ago and tried to take the Voltorb running the generator!" The man exclaimed, "How do I know you're not trying to do that same?"

John thought for a second, "Why don't we have a battle, if we win, you have to take the Voltorb. If we lose, you may do whatever you wish with them."

The worker rubbed his brown goatee for a second, "Alright, you're on!" The worker then sent out a Magnezone and a Golem. I decided to send out Douglas while John sent out a Venusaur.

Douglas took a fighting stance, "Come on, show me what you're made of," He said and got into a fighting stance. Magnezone began to charge up a huge ball of electricity and Golem was ordered to use a flamethrower. Douglas ran towards Golem and jumped over the flamethrower, just before shoving his palm into Golem's face and sending the Pokemon rolling backwards. Vensuar sent several razor sharp leaves at Golem and Magenzone. The attack hit Golem and caused it to whimper for a second, however the leaves simply bounced of Magnezone steel body. Magnzone sent a power blast of electricity at Venusaur who took the entire attack at full blast. Venusaur shivered before being hit by Golem's flamethrower. Magnezone spun towards Douglas but my Lucario jumped out of the way and landed a blaze kick on the Pokemon's head. Magnezone hit the ground as Venusaur slammed the ground. The earth began to quake as Douglas jumped off the Magnezone and did a flip. He landed one second after the earthquake was over.

"That's some fancy footwork," The worker said, "Golem use Flamethrower on Lucario!"

Magnezone rolled towards Venusaur, trying to hit it head on with its Gyro Ball attack. Douglas was accidentally caught in the flamethrower and roared in pain. None-the-less Douglas stood firm and ran towards Magnezone, punching it right in the face and sending it into a small rock. Magnezone hopped up as vines from Venusaur's backside flew out and slapped Golem across the face. The rocky Pokemon remained steady though and rolled towards Douglas. This time, Venusaur hit Golem right before it rolled into Lucario. The rocky ball bounced a few times before being knocked out. The worker sent out a Conkeldurr.

"I will crush all who stand in my way!" The Conkeldurr roared.

"You can try," Douglas smiled and flew toward Conkeldurr. The Conkeldurr easily slugged Douglas in the face and sent him flying. Eventually Douglas landed and made a small crater in the ground. Venusaur shot several leaves at Conkeldurr and Magnezone. This time, one of Venusaur's leaves hit Magnezone's middle eye, knocking it out. Douglas got up and lunged at Conkledurr with a foot covered in fire. The Conkeldurr laughed and sent a Focus Blast in Douglas' direction. Douglas' blaze kick easily sliced the focus blast in two as it hit the Pokemon right in the face. The Pokemon stumbled back before slamming its fist into Venusaur's face, knocking it out. Douglas lunged at Conkeldurr again but he was also punched right in the face. Douglas hit the ground and tried to stand up.

"I can't go on for much longer," Douglas growled, "But I know I've gotten stronger!"

The Conkeldurr sighed as John and I recalled our Pokemon. John sent out a Pidgeot as I sent out Trey. Trey growled and sent a flamethrower at Conkeldurr, who didn't seem to mind the attack. However, Pidgeot slashed Conkeldurr with its wing.

"Birds," Conkeldurr growled, "I wish I could just stone them!" with that, the Pokemon made several sharp stones appear under Pidgeot before they flew upwards. Pidgeot was hit by the attack and let out a caw of anguish. However, Trey had managed to sneak behind the fighting Pokemon and sent a fireball to its lower region, "What is that smell," The Conkeldurr said and sniffed the air. He turned around to see Trey had lit his putt on fire, "Oh my gosh! My biscuits are burnin'!" With that he ran around like chicken with its head chopped off. Pidgeot did a summersault in the air before flying down and hitting Conkeldurr with its wing. The Conkeldurr fell to the ground and was knocked out.

"Well, you two have beaten me," The worker said, "I guess the Voltorbs can stay."

"Yay!" The Voltorbs cheered before heading towards the generator, "Hey Steve!"

"Guys!" A voice called, "It's so nice of you to be here!"

"You know," The man said, "My daughter is a trainer. She might like battling you two!"

"Really?" John said, "What is her name?"

"Her name is Nyx, she's staying in Olivine City at the moment," The worker said.

"It would be our pleasure," I said, "Of course we'd have to find her first," with that, John and I said our good-byes to the worker and continued on our journey to climb one more step up the ladder.


	25. Chapter 25

One More Step Up the Ladder 25

"You know," John said as we left the power plant that had become some Voltorb's new home, "You're not that bad at battling!"

I smiled, "Thanks, you aren't half bad yourself!"

John nodded, "Yeah, too bad everyone was too busy paying attention to Red and Blue's victories in the Elite Four," He snapped.

"What?" I asked him. I'd only heard the name Red and Blue when people were referring to some of the best trainers in the world. There was no way they could have over shadowed John. They're twenty-seven now!

"The day after I managed to beat the Pokemon League Tourney, Red and Blue both beat the Elite Four," John growled, "Ever since then I've been living in their shadow."

I thought for a second, I didn't think I was living in anyone's shadow. Well, maybe Jarod's but other than that there wasn't anyone else. I looked at John, "You'll make a name for yourself."

"Oh I know I can," John said, "But let me tell you it is going to be a long time."

I couldn't think of what else to say, so I changed the subject, "We're almost at Olivine."

John looked up and noticed the lighthouse, "Yeah we are, this is a nice place if you love the sea."

"I would guess so," I said as I took a deep breath and caught the salty air before coughing for a second.

John chuckled, "Never take a deep breath here trust me."

I wheezed again before moving my head up and down. John and I kept moving forward and were almost at a loss for words until we got into Olivine. We noticed that several Police were outside the lighthouse with Pokemon ready to attack. Jarod and Tess were looking at the Lighthouse with awe.

"What happened here?" John asked the officers.

"Team Rocket is holding Jasmine, the gym leader here, captive and say that they'll blow up the lighthouse if we don't hand control of the city over to them!" A police man exclaimed.

"We'll see if we can't do anything about that," John smiled.

"We?" The police man said with a puzzled look on his face.

John looked at me and Jarod, "Yeah us."

A wicked grin ran across Jarod's face, "Oh this is going to be fun!" Jarod ran in as John and I chased after him. When we entered the lighthouse, five Team Rocket grunts were waiting for us.

"Look what we have here," One Rocket Grunt said, "More hostages!" Each of the five Team Rocket members took out a Pokeball as I looked at John and Jarod.

"We can take them," Jarod smiled.

All of a sudden, two people slipped through the window, much to my surprise it was Brendan and Connor!

"Fancy seeing you here Jesse," Connor, the boy whose family's Miltank I helped cure, said, "You mind if we join in on the party?"

"I don't mind," I said as the Rocket grunts sent out a Houndour, a Carvanha, a Nuzleaf, a Liepard, and a Bisharp. John sent out a Pidgeot, Jarod sent out his Slaking, Connor was quick to send out a Vaporeon, as Brendan sent out his Pignite. I debated which Pokemon to send out next. Trey seemed like a good idea. My Charmeleon came to the field as each of us claimed a Team Rocket Member to fight. I chose the Bisharp. Trey took a deep breath and sent a tide of flame roaring from his mouth. The attack engulfed Bisharp and caused the Pokemon stumbling back. The Rocket Grunt's Pokemon ran forward and tried to cut Trey. My Charmeleon ducked under the attack and bit Bisharp's leg. The Pokemon howled in pain as hot magma dripped into its body. Trey smiled as Bisharp sent a blast of grey energy at Trey. He jumped out of the way and the metal burst hit Liepard make the Pokemon stumble before it was hit by an ice beam from Vaporeon. Liepard shook off the attack and lunged at Connor's Pokemon.

Trey sent a burst of fire at Bisharp, who dodged the attack and swept Trey's leg. My Charmeleon fell down as Bisharp tried to slice Trey, who rolled out of the way and sent another burst of flame at Bisharp. This time the flame hit and the sparks from the flame flew onto Nuzleaf, who was standing next to Bisharp, and caused it to panic. Pidgeot flew down and hit Nuzleaf with its wing. The Pokemon tumbled backwards but shot up and began to charge a Razor Wind. Bisharp sent another blast of grey energy at Trey and knocked him into Pignite, messing up the Pokemon's attack. Houndour soon bit into Pignite's skin as the pig Pokemon punched Houndour and sent it tumbling backwards. Trey got up and charged at the Bisharp, who spun around Trey's attack and tripped him. The Bisharp then jumped in the air and slammed a fist of dark energy into Trey's hide. My Pokemon yelped but turned around and spat fire in Bisharp's face. The Pokemon reeled from the attack but countered by once again trying to kick Trey's leg. This time, my Pokemon jumped over it and bit Bisharp's face. The victim of Trey's fire fang stumbled around for a few seconds before hitting the ground, knocked out. Just then, Pidgeot flew past me and sliced Nuzleaf with a blade made of air, knocking it out. Pignite managed to sock Houndour in the face and caused it to hit the ground. The next Pokemon to faint was Carvanha as Slaking sent a hyper beam at the fish and sent it through a window and up into the sky. Of course, Carvanha hit the ground a few seconds later. Vaporeon soon finished off Liepard with a high powered blast of water, nailing the Pokemon to the wall before it collapsed.

The Rocket Grunts looked at each other, "Didn't you all bring more than one Pokemon?" They asked each other before hearing a chorus of nos.

One Rocket Grunt took out a walkee talkee, "Admin Waka! Five kids have broken into the building! We need to blow this thing sky high!"

"I would Brudda," A voice from the other end of the walkee talkee said, "But I be in da' midst of a battle too!"

"What!" The Rocket Grunt exclaimed, "How could one have slipped past us?"

"I don't know Brudda, I tink he climbed the lighthouse," The voice said.

"Listen Waka, we're getting out of here! You better come too!" The Rocket grunt said.

"Just wait for me signal!" The voice exclaimed. While this conversation was going on, the five of us snuck past the Rockets and into the elevator. We hit a button and went up to the top floor. Upon exiting, we saw Mike fighting a man with blazing orange hair that stood up straight.

"Now how about we get back to our battle," Mike smiled as he pointed forward, "Numel! Use Inferno on Magenzone!"

Mike's Numel looked at Magnezone and shot a scarlet tornado. Magnezone flew out of the way and attempted to throw a strange ball of grey energy. The attack stuck to Numel and exploded, but the Pokemon hardly seemed damaged. Numel then sent a gush of flame from his mouth that engulfed Magnezone. The Magnet Area Pokemon fell to the ground as Numel finished off it off by using Magnitude. The ground shook for a bit as several rocks came out of nowhere and hit Magnezone, knocking it out.

"You're out of Pokemon," Mike smiled, "Shame that Seymour put up a better fight than you."

"I still have one trick up my sleeve Brudda," The Rocket Admin said and took out a small button. He pressed it as the fire alarm for the lighthouse began to go off, "May you all be buried in a grave of rubble!" Just then, The Rocket Admin jumped out of a window. When we looked to see where he had gone, we noticed that he wasn't there anymore.

"Using a Pokemon to carry him away from certain death," Mike said, "Typical."

He turned around and noticed me and my friends, "What? You're here to defeat the Rocket Admin? Sorry Jesse, you're late. Like you always are," Mike laughed, "But you need to get out of here quick. This building is going to blow any second now!"

"How do they expect to blow up a building of this size?" Brendan asked, "There is no way they could obtain that many explosives."

"They don't need explosives when they have Pokemon," Mike said, "I heard them talking about several Voltorb that were supposed to be hidden here."

"Interesting," John said, "Because we found a few Voltorb's stashed in some kind of hollowed out tree."

The fire alarm went off and nothing happened.

"Perfect," Mike smiled as he went over to girl who had been tied up. I was surprised that the girl had kept quiet this long. The girl soon got up and it was none other than the Olivine Gym leader, Jasmine.

"Thank you all for saving me," Jasmine said, "Those thugs captured me after I came here to check up on Amphy."

"Amphy," Jarod said, "Who names their Pokemon Amphy?"

"She's the Ampharos that powers the light house," Jasmine said, "Recently she's become very sick."

"Team Rocket probably has something to do with it!" Brandon exclaimed and slammed his fist into his palm.

Mike sighed, "Not everything is a Team Rocket conspiracy you dolt, the Pokemon was just sick and Team Rocket exploited that fact to capture Jasmine."

"Anyways," Jasmine said, interrupting the two, "From what I've been able to tell, Amphy will need a few doses of a Secretpotion."

"Where do we get one of those?" I asked her, "I mean I've never really heard of that kind of potion before."

"The Potions are made in Cianwood City and are only distributed to Pokemon in critical condition," Jasmine said as she took out a small file, "I need each of you to deliver this to the Cianwood Pharmacy," Jasmine also handed us five tickets, "These are tickets for the S.S. Cactus. The boat sails between Olivine and Cianwood. It is scheduled to leave in a few hours."

"Alright," Jarod exclaimed like a kid on a sugar rush, "I get to go on a cruise! This is going to be sweet!"

"Jarod calm down," I said, "Thank you Jasmine," I said, "We will try to get back as soon as possible," with that, the five of us headed out of the Lighthouse. After arriving at the ship, with Tess in tow, the five of us gave each other a smile.

"That was fun," Jarod smiled, "We need to do it again sometime!"

"Yes we do," John laughed and went onto the boat. I smiled and looked at the cruise liner, at least I was going to be able to live it up for a few days on my journey to climb one more step up the ladder.


	26. Chapter 26

One More Step Up the Ladder 26

I looked at the S.S. Cactus, the ship that was going to take Jarod, Tess, and me to Cianwood City. It was pretty big and white and looked like a standard cruise ship. Heck, there was even a dining area on top of the deck! Which looked fantastic, I figured I would have to eat there before I got off the boat. I looked at the others who would be getting on the boat: John, Mike, Brandon, and Connor.

"You guys ready?" I asked them.

"You don't need our permission," John laughed as he gave his ticket to the teller and got on the boat. Jarod and I approached the ticket booth with Tess in tow. We handed him the two tickets and he gave us a puzzled look.

"There are only two tickets here," The captain said, "And I see three people."

"So?" Jarod said.

"It means you're not going on the ship," He said.

"What if I told you that I'm Jarod Tanaka," My brother smiled.

"Jarod Tanaka! My daughter would have a fit if I didn't let you on board for free!" The captain said, "Come on in! I'll announce your arrival on the intercoms!"

"No," Jarod said, "Don't tell anyone I'm on this ship!"

"Okay," The captain said. The three of us walked onto the ship and I looked at Jarod.

"You sure have a way with people," I said.

"It comes naturally when you're the best," Jarod smiled.

"You know, for being the best ever, I've only seen you win one battle," I snickered.

"Hey! The story isn't about me is it? It's about you!" Jarod snapped.

"You're right," I said as we walked into our rooms. The cabin had two bunk beds and had a computer in the back of the room. The room also had wooden flooring and a closet to put our supplies.

"Time to answer my fan mail," Jarod said and hopped on the computer.

Tess sighed and decided to wander the ship. I decided to go to the dining room on top of the ship. When I got there, I realized that the tables were surrounding a battlefield. I recalled that the last time I had eaten in a place like this; I had to battle the waitress for my food. I groaned and sat down. A waiter came by.

"Excuse me sir, would you like something to drink?" The waiter said.

"Am I going to have to battle you for it?" I inquired.

"No sir, this drink is free," The waiter said.

"In that case, I need some lemonade," I said. The waiter went back and came out with a glass of lemonade; he put down the glass as I grabbed it and began to drink.

"Do you know that the battle block is about to start?" The waiter said.

"The what now?" I replied.

"The battle block, where several trainers gather together and battle while we serve a meal," The waiter said.

"Just my luck," I sighed as several trainers began to sit down.

"Just let me know if you want to participate," The waiter said as he took out a microphone.

"Welcome to the S.S. Cactus' Battle Block! Here several trainers will battle it out while you enjoy a meal! If you wish to participate, step up now!" The waiter said. One kid, who was wearing a purple T-shirt with blue jeans and white skin, stepped up and onto the battlefield. Another kid, with white hair, green eyes, and glasses took to the battlefield.

"And here we have two trainers ready to brawl!" The waiter exclaimed and pointed at the purple shirted kid, "What is your name?"

"Jon," The kid said.

"Jon! And on the other side we have the trainer named," The waiter said and pointed to the other kid.

"Carl," The kid said.

"And Carl," The waiter said, "Now remember you are only allowed to use two Pokemon, so choose wisely," he said before holding up a flag, "Begin!"

Jon took out a Pokeball and sent out a Charmander. The opponent sent out a Goldeen.

"Ouch," The waiter said, "Can Charmander overcome this type difference?"

"Charmander use metal claw!" Jon exclaimed.

"Goldeen use Horn Attack!" Carl ordered.

Charmander flew forward with its armed glowing with some kind of grey energy. Goldeen jumped over the attack and drove its horn into Charmander's body. The fire lizard flew back but lunged at Goldeen again, this time; it scratched the fish Pokemon's face. Goldeen flinched before firing a water gun at Charmander. Charmander dodged the attack and scratched Goldeen across the face. The fish then hit the ground and flew toward Charmander, easily nailing the lizard's stomach again. This time however, Charmander countered by hitting Goldeen with a metal claw.

"Is that the best you've got?" Carl laughed.

Jon sighed, "You want to see the best I've got? You'll be sorry you said that," Jon recalled his Charmander and sent out a Magikarp.

"Really," Carl laughed, "A Magikarp is your secret weapon? What kind of moron uses a Magikarp?"

"Magikarp, Tackle," Jon said calmly. Magikarp seemingly zoomed toward Goldeen at break neck speed, sending it right into the ground. Goldeen was instantly knocked out.

"What!" Carl exclaimed, "Impossible! Come on out Machoke!" Carl yelled and sent out his next Pokemon. Jon ordered his Magikarp to use tackle and the battle was soon over. Carl gave Jon a look of annoyance mixed with amazement and confusion.

"The winner is Jon!" The waiter exclaimed as Jon and Carl went back to their seats. Jon soon got up however and sat next to me.

"Wow," He said.

"Wow what?" I replied.

"I've never seen someone with blue hair before," Jon said, "It's kind of unsettling," The boy then took out a notepad and began to draw something.

"What are you drawing?" I asked him.

"You," He replied, "You're pretty interesting."

I sipped my lemonade as I debated whether to take that as a compliment or an insult to my blue hair.

"So do you draw a lot?" I asked the kid.

"All the time," Jon smiled, "But I'm known for my Magikarp."

"I'll say," I said, "You thrashed that Carl guy."

Jon nodded, "Of course I'm debating whether or not to evolve it into a Gyardos."

"Whatever seems good to you," I said.

Jon stopped for a second, "Your name doesn't happen to be Jesse, does it?"

"It is," I said, "Why do you ask?"

"You can talk to Pokemon can't you?" Jon inquired.

"What? Me? Talk to Pokemon?" I laughed, "Don't be so foolish!"

Jon gave me an odd look, "So, I take it you're off to challenge Chuck in Cianwood City."

"There is a gym leader in Cianwood?" I asked him.

"Yeah there is," He said, "You didn't know?"

"Well of course I did," I said, Gosh Jesse how could you have forgotten that? I thought

"Maybe you did," Jon said as he looked up.

"Now time for a daily double battle," The waiter exclaimed as two other trainers walked out of the arena, "Who will be the trainers that will be participating in our double battle today?"

Jon got up and looked at me, "Do you want to come up?"

I shrugged and nodded. Upon getting up, The two of us were faced with a trainer with blue hair and an orange vest on and the other trainer was none other than Roger.

"Jesse long time no see," Roger smiled.

I nodded, "Yeah, I'll admit we haven't battled in a long time."

Roger took out a Pokemon, "This'll be a good fight!"

"You betcha," I exclaimed.

"Now the rules for this battle are that you four are only allowed to use one Pokemon and one Pokemon only!" The waiter said, "You may talk with your teammates before you begin."

Jon and I didn't say a single word to each other…which was not the best strategy once you think about it. Jon sent out his Magikarp and I sent out Nelly.

Roger sent out a Masquerain while the other trainer sent out a Hariyama. The battle was soon under way as Nelly sent a shock wave flying towards Masquerain. The attack hit as the flying bug shook its head and began to send out a powerful sound wave from its wings. The sound waves flew forward and hit Magikarp who didn't seem too fazed by the attack. Magikarp then propelled itself into the air before headbutting the Hariyama's head. The Hariyama growled and stumbled around for a second before grabbing Magikarp, spinning it around and throwing it into the ground. Magikarp got up like it was nothing. Nelly leapt at Hariyama this time and bit it on its arm. Several volts of electricity flew through the Pokemon's body before it managed to slug Nelly into a table. Nelly got up and realized he was covered in food.

"Uh, sorry about that," He laughed as he jumped off the table, "Wait a second! That gives me an idea!" Nelly grabbed one of the plates filled with food and threw it at Hariyama. The food flew into Hariyama's face and left him open for a brief second. Magikarp flew forward and hit the Pokemon in the stomach, knocking it on the ground. Masquerian began send a repulsive wind at Nelly, "What foul stench is that!" Nelly exclaimed as he caught a whiff of the attack, "Did you eat garlic or something?"

Masquerian shook its head as Hariyama wiped the food off his plate. Nelly hopped onto another table and grabbed tabasco sauce and squirted it in Hariyama's eyes. The Pokemon began to run around, screaming as Nelly and Magikarp focuses their attention on Masquerian. Magikarp got ready with another tackle as Nelly got ready to use his spark attack. The two Pokemon hit Masquerian at the same time and sent it tumbling into the ground, knocked out. Hariyama tried to attack but couldn't get past the fact that hot sauce was in his eyes. Nelly looked at Magikarp.

"You want to finish Hariyama off?" Nelly asked his partner.

"With pleasure," Magikarp laughed as Nelly then kicked him towards Hariyama. Magikarp hit the fighting type Pokemon like a missile and sent it toppling over.

"It looks like we have our winners!" The waiter exclaimed as I looked at Jon. The two of us sat back down and began to talk about our adventures during our journey to climb one more step up the ladder.


End file.
